JBER WIC clinic to move from hospital to Arctic Oasis

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. William Banton
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson office for the Women, Infants, and Children program, which currently supports approximately 1,600 service members on JBER,
will close June 27 to move to a new office location.

Currently on the first floor of the JBER hospital, WIC will relocate to the second floor of the Arctic Oasis Community Center, 9497 20th St., and reopen on July 8.

The move will free up space in the hospital for several scheduled expansions planned to increase hospital services.

WIC is a supplemental food program which helps improve the health of pregnant mothers, infants and children at risk of malnutrition.

"WIC is supported by federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health-care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk," said Margaret Duggan, WIC program manager for the Municipality of Anchorage.

The program includes food vouchers for basic healthy foods, which typically include iron-fortified infant cereal, milk, cheese, eggs, whole grains, peanut butter, beans, fruits, vegetables and juice.

Options such as block cheese and canned, frozen juice are limited.

"My friend told me about WIC, she said that I should see if I'm eligible to sign up because it will help out with grocery bills," said Tiffany Barnett, a military spouse, mother of three and former WIC user. "While we weren't hurting very much, it still was a help, especially in tighter months."

When determining eligibility, the program allows military personnel to exclude basic allowance for housing, family separation housing allowance, overseas housing allowances and cost-of-living allowances.

Most state WIC programs provide vouchers that participants use at authorized food stores, Duggan said. Most farmers' markets in the area also accept the vouchers.

Many state and local organizations cooperate in providing the food and health care benefits, and 46,000 merchants nationwide accept WIC vouchers.

"It was essential for helping me when my kids were little because they were on formula," Barnett said. "Without that I don't know what I would have done."

The program also provides nutrition education, offering mothers and expecting mothers access to breastfeeding support, healthcare referrals and nutrition educational materials, like websites and videos.

"At past bases, we were presented videos to watch for education purposes; the program here requires online education," Barnett said. "They teach classes on feeding your family healthy choices - get your kids to eat their vegetables, or how many servings of vegetables children need."

WIC saves lives and improves the health of nutritionally at-risk women, infants and children, Duggan said.

Studies conducted by the Food and Nutrition Service and non-government entities indicate WIC is one of the nation's most successful and cost-effective nutrition intervention programs.

For more information, contact the JBER WIC at 343-4430 or visit www.muni.org/Departments/health/community/Pages/wic.aspx.