Crook County joins move to ‘e-WIC’ electronic benefits
Women, Infants, and Children, Oregon’s public health nutrition program, is offering its families a new way to shop for WIC food benefits using an EBT (electronic benefit transaction) card.
Currently, participants of WIC, a program of the Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division, use paper vouchers to buy the healthy WIC foods. Now, with this new card, shopping will be easier and WIC families will be able to better track their monthly food balance.
Participants will also have access to a new WIC Shopper Smart Phone App allowing them to scan a food’s bar code to determine if it is a WIC-allowed food.
WIC provides services at over 100 clinic sites throughout Oregon and serves 16,000 lower-income pregnant women, infants and children under age 5. These WIC families shop at more than 500 Oregon grocery stores, pharmacies, farm stands and farmers markets, and spend $64.7 million a year with their WIC food benefits.
In Crook County, 1,072 women, infants and children participate in the WIC nutrition education program. A total of $499,034 was spent last year at local grocery stores and $2,500 at local farmers markets for healthy foods.
“We are very excited to continue stimulating our local economy while easing the redemption of our benefits with this new technology provided by E-WIC debit cards,” said Emma Reynolds, WIC Supervisor with Crook County.
Crook County WIC has been offering participant-centered nutrition education, healthy food, breastfeeding support, and has been serving as a gateway for preventative health for over 40 years.
It is considered one of the most successful, cost-effective and important nutrition intervention programs in the county. Crook County WIC is excited to serve more families in Crook County and would like to invite you to participate in the program.
For more information about WIC and to see if you qualify, visit the Crook County Health Department or call 541-447-5165.
For more information online: www.healthoregon.org/wic or http://co.crook.or.us
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Feb. 11 Deschutes County release:
Beginning next week, more than 2,500 families in Deschutes County will start transitioning to eWIC, which will enable them to shop for WIC food benefits using an EBT (electronic benefit transaction) card.
Currently, participants of WIC, a program of the Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division, use paper vouchers to buy WIC-approved foods. Now, with this new card, shopping will be easier and WIC families will be able to better track their monthly food balance.
Participants will also have access to a new WICShopper Smart Phone App, which will allow them to scan a food’s bar code to determine if it is a WIC allowed food.
“We’re so excited to offer a new, convenient way for our families to shop,” said Laura Spaulding, Deschutes County WIC Coordinator. “With these new options, accessing and tracking benefits will be easy.”
In Deschutes County, WIC serves more than 3,330 women, infants and children. In 2014, these families spent more than $2.4 million at local WIC stores and farmers markets on healthy foods.
WIC provides services at over 100 clinic sites throughout Oregon and serves 161 thousand lower-income pregnant women, infants and children under age 5. These WIC families shop at more than 500 Oregon grocery stores, pharmacies, farm stands and farmers markets, and spend $64.7 million a year with their WIC food benefits.
WIC has been offering participant-centered nutrition education, healthy food, breastfeeding support and has been serving as a gateway for preventative health for more than 40 years.
Deschutes County WIC has appointment openings at clinic sites in Bend, La Pine, Redmond and Sisters. For more information about WIC, visit: http://www.deschutes.org/health/page/women-infants-and-children-wic or call 541-322-7400.
