Delaware WIC clinics begin evening hours to improve service

Food and Nutrition, Fall-Winter, 1989 by Marian Wig

Delaware WIC Clinics Begin Evening Hours To improve Service

There used to be a pocket of people in Delaware who weren't getting all of the medical and nutritional benefits of the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Among them were working mother Brenda Lentz; 2-year-old whitney Glass and her mother Bernadette, who doesn't know how to drive; and many others who couldn't take time off from work or who had transportation problems and couldn't get to WIC clinics for proper care.

But since state WIC staff expanded the schedule 2-1/2 years ago to include mid-day and evening hours 1 day a week at the Dover clinic, they have seen a significant increase in the number of people participating in the program.

WIC provides supplemental foods and nutrition education to low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women; infants; and young children who are at risk because of nutrition-related health problems or inadequate diet.

Managers saw

need for change

"In Delaware, we were getting more and more phone calls from people who said they couldn't come in because they were working or had transportation problems," says Beth Weatherbee, WIC program coordinator, who works closely with clinics throughout the state.

She asked the WIC staff for help in resolving the problem. "I think that if you're going to be a service for the clients, you're going to have to give a little bit," she says. "In most states, clinics run from 8 a.m. through 4:30 p.m., but most people work those same hours, whether in manual labor or whatever else."

WIC managers coordinated with other public health and department staff in modifying the WIC schedule at the Dover clinic.

"It was all very easy," says Weatherbee. "We sent to the service center and asked if it was all right to offer WIC services on Wednesday nights. There was no problem because the building was already being left open for other services."

The WIC staff tried out the idea on a temporary basis to be sure they could adjust to working a different schedule.

"We decided we would still put in our 7-1/2-hour day, but would stagger the hours. Also, we scheduled our lunch hour later than most to allow those clients who work locally to come during their lunch hours. It's another good way of helping people who work. It's worked out for our staff, too."

WIC employees Sherry Vann says the shift change hasn't been a problem for her, even though during the summer she often works until 10 p.m., recertifying migrant workers who can't get to the clinic until after dark.

Vann schedules appointments, which are needed for all WIC services. She tries to reserve lunch and evening hour slots for those who truly have problems getting there.

Many participants

like later hours

WIC participant Brenda Lentz is a full-time nurse's assistant at a hospital. After she gets off work at 3:15 p.m., she picks up her two children from a day care center. Some nights she goes to school. When Lenz can't fit WIC appointments into her daytime schedule, she takes advantage of the expanded clinic hours, which she says have been very convenient for her.

With the exception of inner-city Wilmington, there's no mass transportation in Delaware. Many WIC participants, like Bernadette and Whitney Glass, rely on family members for transportation.

"I live on the other side of town, and I don't drive," says Glass. "I have to get a ride from my mom. I like the later hours."

Other recipients carpool to clinics or serve as proxies for each other for voucher pick up.

On his way home from work, Steve Jones bicycles to the health facility to pick up vouchers for his wife and their four children. The young man says the expanded hours meet his family's needs quite well.

"I can't take off a day from work. I'd lose hours," says Jones, who is a cook at a local motel restaurant. "I can't get down to the clinic until after work. It works out just fine."

Because of the Jones' transportation problem, the WIC staff schedules their children's appointments together to further help their family.

WIC clients who visit the Dover clinic after regular hours can also get other additional assistance at the same time. The health department offers well-child, prenatal, and dental clinics, and certifies people to participate in the Medicaid program on the same night the WIC clinic is available.

"Our goal has been to coordinate services so that certifications as well as immunizations and prenatal visits, for example, can be done together," says Weatherbee.

Other clinics

also expanding

Another WIC center--in Milford, Delaware--also recently began offering expanded WIC clinic hours, which are coordinated with an array of other services. That site is open two evenings a month.

Recipients who go to the other 19 WIC clinics in Delaware may expect similar service in the near future, says Weatherbee.

"Three or four more clinics are looking into the possibility sometime by late spring of being open one night a week for all services," says Weatherbee. "I think more sites should have the additional hours, though. That's what we're moving towards, and we'renot too far off."