On Tuesday, Dec. 3, Public Health Director Coral Ripplinger and Public Health Supervisor Program Supervisor for WIC Katie Galloway provided an update on the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program in Dakota County.
WIC is a federal assistance program administered by the state that provides nutritional education and counseling, nutritious foods, and referrals to health and other services to pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as to children under the age of five. Participants must qualify for the program by being enrolled in medical assistance, SNAP, Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), or meet income requirements among other metrics. In Dakota County, of the 5,600 individuals receiving benefits each month, roughly 90% qualify via medical assistance.
While WIC is most widely known for providing funds for fresh fruits and vegetables for pregnant and nursing mothers, it’s “More than just a food program,” said Ripplinger, highlighting the education and healthcare referrals provided by the program.
In addition, WIC works. Galloway cited a study tracking the percentage of WIC-enrolled infants born at a low birth weight. The study showed that the longer an infant is enrolled in WIC, the lower chance they have of being born with a low birth weight.
In 2023, the percentage of infants born with a low birth weight with no WIC participation was 13.5%. For those enrolled in WIC for less than 3 months, the rate was just over 10%, and for those enrolled longer than 3 months, the rate was 8.4%, a more than 5% drop from those not enrolled in WIC.
“This shows that participating in WIC for longer periods of time have a greater impact on health outcomes,” said Galloway.
The average medical expenditure for low-birth-weight infants is $114,437.
To that point, WIC is also a sound financial investment. According to Ripplinger, for every “One dollar invested in WIC saves $2.48 in medical, educational, and productivity costs.”
Galloway spoke to how meeting breastfeeding recommendations nationwide could save an estimated $17.2 billion in national annual medical costs and prevent an estimated 3,340 deaths annually.
In Dakota County, the population participating in WIC has largely followed broader county trends in that they are becoming more diverse in language and ethnicity. While English is the language spoke by 70% of participants, that number has been gradually falling for years. The number of non-English speakers has “steadily increased in the last couple of years with the biggest jump last year from 25%-29%” of participants with a language other than English as their primary language, said Galloway.
Dakota County’s WIC program received a $10,000 modernization grant designed to improve the shopping experience. As many participants of the program know all too well, shopping using WIC can be difficult in its specificity of which types, sizes, and amounts of fruits and vegetables it will cover. While this process can be difficult for native English speakers, it can be especially hard for limited English proficiency participants. The grant seeks to address both these issues by providing increased options for check-out including self check-out and online shopping as well as increased options with the inclusion of new federal food package changes.
As of July, Dakota County WIC began piloting the new information system WINNIE which stands for WIC Information Next-gen for Nutrition, Integrity, and Education. WINNIE allows for online eligibility assessments and direct services which expands flexibility in how WIC provides services.
“It allows for easier accessibility and greater efficiency for staff when working with participants,” said Galloway, referencing how other counties in Minnesota have looked to Dakota County WIC for guidance in using the new software during the state-wide rollout.
The state-wide rollout of WINNIE ran from Oct. 1 to Nov. 5 and is now used across the state.
For more information about the WIC program, visit https://www.health.state.mn.us/people/wic/index.html