Wic Program

Julie Gladmay a lactation consultant from the Athens county WIC program came to talk to our class today about the WIC program. WIC is created for women, infant and children to supplement nutrition. It was interesting hearing about the program from Julie. The program is funded by the state and federal.The benefits of WIC include items such as referrals when necessary, supplemented high density nutritious food, health education, health screening and classes. The ideas for programs and other things in WIC come from other states sometimes or higher up. It can also come from within the Athens branch. This program is a very good supplemental nutrition program. The food is very limited to nutritionally dense items. Most of the items they are allowed to buy are fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. The items have to meet very strict nutritional regulation in order to be allowed on the WIC program. I think this is great and highly benefits the people that are involved with this program. It allows them to buy nutritious food that they need. The program is monitored by the state and at the Federal level. The programs that usually successful somewhere else then they are used in other states. The program is evaluated by how many people are using the program and if the number of people breastfeeding is increasing. This lets them know that people are utilizing the program and probably being educated on this. This is a great program and it was really interesting learning about how they help moms who are pregnant or have had the babies.

I think it would be really interesting working at WIC. It would be wonderful experience getting to help all the mothers with their children. It would be great to help out with any nutritional deficiencies and encourage breastfeeding because it is so healthy for the baby. I think I would really enjoy working at a WIC program. You could really help many people at a WIC and give a lot of great nutrition education and interventions.I think that is great that there is a program like this to help pregnant and lactating women get the nutrition they need for both the baby. I think alot of people should utilize this. It could really help so many people out. I will remember to refer people to this, who I think it would help. It gives people many great opportunities to get the nutrition they need. I will always keep this in the back of my mind while I practice as registered dietitian.