Good nutrition for pregnant women, infants and children ages five and under just got easier for residents of Polk County.  The Polk County Health Department is now offering online education for clients of the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program.

“Nutrition education for some WIC participants can now be done at home or wherever you can use a computer,” said Helen Brakebill, community health services director for the Southeast Region. “If WIC clients do not have a computer, a WIC kiosk is available at the Polk County Health Department.”  

The kiosk allows eligible WIC clients to use the health department computer on the kiosk and follow the easy instructions to complete a ten minute module on nutrition.  When the module is complete, clients receive a certificate and the office assistant will print their WIC vouchers.  

Online WIC education can also be done outside the health department.  Eligible clients who are currently enrolled in the WIC program and are not considered high risk or receiving therapeutic formulas can go to http://health.state.tn.us/wicedu/ to access online education.  If a printer is not available, the client can write down the name of the completed session, the certificate number, the date, and the time the session was finished and bring that information to the health department on their next WIC visit.  

“Our goal is to make it easy for pregnant women, infants and young children to receive nutritious food and reliable nutrition information,” Brakebill said. “Good nutrition during pregnancy helps reduce infant mortality and good nutrition from infancy through the preschool years helps children get started on healthy habits for life.”  

Eight WIC educational modules are currently available online and additional modules will be developed.

To qualify for WIC, a family of four can make up to $42,643 annually. For more information on WIC, including income guidelines and eligibility requirements, contact the Polk County Health Department at 338-4533 in Benton or 496-3275 in Copper Basin.  The Polk County Health Department is located at 840 Cherokee Trail in Copper Basin and 2279 Parksville Road in Benton and open 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.