WIC team expands access with pop-up locations

Nearly half of people who qualify for food and nutritional support through the Women, Infants and Children program in Washington aren’t currently receiving it. Why?

In many cases they either don’t know that they qualify or don’t know how to sign up.

MultiCare is on a mission to reduce those missed opportunities by spreading awareness and giving families more options to join.

MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and the MultiCare Center for Health Equity and Wellness have a team of 27 dedicated to connecting women and families to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). The program provides access to nourishing food, nutrition education and breastfeeding support from WIC certifiers and registered dietitians, free of charge to eligible families.

With a 40-year history, the Mary Bridge Children’s WIC team are experts in the field, but even they recognize the catch-22 of meeting the needs of the community, explains Hope Roberts, contracts and events manager for the MultiCare Center for Health Equity and Wellness.

The WIC team’s goal is to ensure that everyone who qualifies is signed up, but there’s also not enough access to go around, she says. Currently it’s a 12-week wait for intake appointments.

The COVID-19 pandemic had one positive impact on addressing that challenge, though — lessons in how to be nimble, Roberts says.

Pre-pandemic, all intake appointments were required to be in person. This led to many missed appointments due to transportation, work or child care challenges, and a backlog of intake appointments.

When social distancing went into effect and the need for support skyrocketed, the team shifted to virtual appointments overnight, Roberts says. Today, participants can choose to meet with a WIC certifier either in person or over the phone.

“We took that idea of being nimble and translated it into WIC. Knowing that we need to continue having an in-person presence in places where people can get to us easily, we looked at how can we get everything we need to build a WIC clinic to fit into a wagon,” she says. “We designed a pop-up WIC clinic model out of those wagons that we take into our community partner locations.”

Under the new model — even without a dedicated brick-and-mortar Mary Bridge Children’s WIC clinic in the county — participants have more options for meeting in person if they want to.

Inspired by their own pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinics, the WIC team will have a variety of satellite sites that will operate weekly, such as Boze Elementary School in Tacoma, and pop-up locations that will open on a regular basis, such as every other week or the first Monday of the month.

“We can look at where you work and schedule your appointment near that when we have availability,” Roberts explains. “Or give you other options that may be along your route and fit into your schedule.”

The first pop-up clinics at the Eatonville, Key Peninsula, Gig Harbor and Bonney Lake libraries saw great success, she says. Clinic times were scheduled around story or activity hours when young families would be there.

WIC will continue expanding to other libraries in Pierce County, as well as other partner locations, such as YMCAs, school district family resource centers, and community and technical colleges. In January, the team opened their first pop-up WIC clinics at the Mel Korum Family YMCA in Puyallup and Morgan Family YMCA in Tacoma.

Roberts encourages pregnant individuals to get signed up sooner than later, recognizing that wait times will continue to be long until the team can grow.

“We’re focused on reducing low birth rates. We’re not capturing women early enough into their pregnancy if they’re waiting 12 weeks to see their doctor and then 12 weeks to see us,” she explains. “You can call us as soon as you find out you’re pregnant and get scheduled. The nutrition support you get from WIC is proven to improve outcomes so much.”

Even if you don’t know if you qualify, just ask, she adds.

“We are going to be where you’re at, so don’t be afraid to ask,” Roberts says. “You get produce and fresh foods, and there’s so many other benefits like farmer’s market money and formula. It really is setting your kids up for success.”