WIC is a preventive health nutrition and breastfeeding program. WIC provides four core services: nutrition education, breastfeeding support, healthy food packages, and referrals to health and social services. WIC helps ensure that kids enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn.
Nutrition education is based on the health and nutrition assessments completed at each certification appointment. The health assessment includes height; weight; and hemoglobin, a simple blood test to determine iron levels. The dietitian will also ask questions about your general health and activity levels. The nutrition assessment consists of core questions about your eating habits.
The dietitian will share with you the results of your assessment and ask what area you are interested in working on to improve over the next three months. Information will be provided to assist you in making decisions on how you can change or add to your current lifestyle to help alleviate any areas of concern.
You will be offered choices of the type of nutrition education you will participate in in the future. You may be offered another in-person appointment, an internet education module, or a book style education module. It will often be your choice of how you wish to obtain further education and support.
The dietitian can also make referrals for you if it is determined you could benefit from further services within the community. These referrals may be indicated from the assessments that are conducted or it may be something you ask for assistance with.