Rights & responsibilities update:
Minor update to the language in the WIC Rights & Responsibilities Use of Information section to align with the Tennessen Warning. “We will protect your information and will not share it outside of WIC unless you sign a consent to release or unless we are required to do so by law,” replaces a more vague information sharing statement.
If you keep hard copies of the WIC Rights and Responsibilities at your clinic to share with participants, please print new copies with this revised statement. All translations have been updated and an Arabic translation has been added.
Keep in mind that there are very limited situations that you would share participants’ information, without a signed consent to release their information. If you have any questions about data privacy, please see: Section 1.7-Data Privacy or reach out to your WIC state consultant.
Minnesota WIC online application update
The Minnesota WIC online application will include additional verbiage on the application to help clarify to applicants that applying for WIC does not automatically enroll them in the program and an appointment is needed.
New research on postneonatal mortality in Minnesota
Nichole Castillo, a former CFH student intern, and Marcia McCoy, WIC research scientist, have a new paper in the Maternal and Child Health Journal, Associations Between Infant Formula Exposure, Housing Instability and Postneonatal Mortality Among Participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
The study found that postneonatal mortality was more than twice as prevalent among Black (African American) as East African immigrant infants (IMR = 3.9 vs 1.5). After adjustment for confounding, infants exposed to formula by 28 days were four times as likely to die in the postneonatal period as those without formula exposure. WIC participants who experienced housing instability perinatally were 1.7 times as likely to lose an infant in the postneonatal period (28 to 364 days of age) as those in stable housing.
Betty Hubbard MCH leadership award call for nominations
Do you know an outstanding maternal and child health hero?
Minnesota Department of Health and the Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force are now accepting nominations for the 2024 Betty Hubbard MCH leadership award (Betty Hubbard). The Betty Hubbard award was established in 1990 to honor and memory of Betty Hubbard, a longtime advocate for health needs of mothers, children, and families.
The Betty Hubbard MCH leadership award recognizes individuals or organizations in Minnesota making significant contributions to maternal and child health outcomes. The award is presented in two categories:
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Statewide level: recognizing a nominee’s contributions to maternal and child health with outcomes at a statewide level.
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Community level: recognizing contributions to maternal and child health with outcomes that impact an entire community or a targeted population within a community.
The nomination process consists of three easy steps:
Submission deadline is Sept. 11, 2024.
To learn more about the Betty Hubbard MCH Leadership Award, the nomination process and how to nominate that exceptional person or organization visit: Betty Hubbard MCH leadership award or send an email with your questions to health.mch@state.mn.us.
Prerecorded "Improving the Health of WIC Participants through the Nutrition Assessment: Enhancing Nutrition Assessment Skills"
Description: Building off our previous webinar, Improving the health of WIC participants through the nutrition assessment: practical applications, this presentation is a deep dive into elevating CPA proficiency in conducting comprehensive nutrition assessments. Our speaker, Melissa Nelson, will continue to explore the intricacies of the nutrition assessment, equipping staff with the knowledge and tools necessary to perform nutrition assessments that ensure the highest quality of care for WIC participants.
Objectives:
- Tailor nutrition assessment questions to the unique needs of each participant.
- Identify when and how to appropriately discuss growth with participants.
- Use the nutrition assessment to gain an understanding of a participant’s typical eating behaviors and patterns.
- Effectively use tools available to conduct quality nutrition assessments.
Registration: Log into the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Learning Center and search for the prerecorded “Improving the Health of WIC Participants through the Nutrition Assessment: Enhancing Nutrition Assessment Skills.”
Previous viewer comments:
- “Excellent job. Appreciate Melissa's presentation style and approach - practical, clear, well-paced. I found it very helpful that Melissa reviewed and cross-referenced MDH resources throughout discussion.”
- “The presentation addressed issues that are not easy to address and how to address them for positive results.”
- “I plan to listen to the training again. Been doing this a long time, but always things to learn and improve on. I think when you mentioned some of the extraneous comments that CPAs note, especially about infants, that probably comes from how we ask the question, physical activities you do with your baby, or what activities does your baby like to do now. Parents tend to say things like the developmental milestones or what toys they like to play with instead of the family-type activities they do. Will definitely be reviewing the new documents.”
Topic of the Month – Donor Milk and Informal Milk Sharing
Human milk is an ideal first food for baby and healthy for the parent. Babies who are fed human milk receive immunological factors and nutrients that are unavailable in infant formula. Donor human milk is one option to provide an infant nutrition when their parent’s milk isn’t available. Read Donor Milk and Informal Milk Sharing – Topic of the Month to learn more about the benefits, concerns, misconceptions, and barriers to acceptance of donor human milk. Plus learn about cultural considerations related to donor milk in the Muslim community.
We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Since the opening of the first clinic in 1974, WIC has been committed to improving maternal and child outcomes.
The September toolkit has not yet been released, NWA will share content on their website when it is available, and we'll share an update next week.
Check out the WIC 50th Anniversary webpage for additional resources.
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Local agency staff should talk to their supervisor for approval before registering for training.
WIC Training Conference – speaker spotlight
As we countdown the days until the Minnesota WIC 2024 training conference on Sept. 26, we’re highlighting what attendees can expect from the knowledgeable speakers and their presentations.
Registration for the conference will close Sept. 6 : 2024 Minnesota WIC Training Conference Registration
This week’s speaker spotlight includes the panelists for Navigating the Pump. Panelists include Everyday Miracles (Sara Hildreth, MPH and Claudia Beck, CBI, UCSD), Yaa Yaa Nti, and Megan Warfield Kimball, OTD, MSHS, OTR/L. Rosie Pierce-Martin, MPH, RD, LD, IBCLC, will facilitate the panel discussion.
Sara Hildreth has her MPH in maternal and child health from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She currently works at Everyday Miracles, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving maternal health outcomes and providing doula services to individuals on Medicaid plans. She is the communications and breast pump coordinator at Everyday Miracles and responsible for outreach and breast pump deliveries.
Claudia Beck is a birth doula and certified lactation educator counselor. Claudia works as the education coordinator at Everyday Miracles and also serves as a doula in an on-call partnership with Hennepin Healthcare, and as a substitute lactation educator. Claudia became drawn to birth work after the birth of her second child. She finds that birth is such an important and transformative experience and wants to help every parent find their strength and confidence by offering education, and support.
Yaa Yaa Nti is an amazing mother of four sons, a lactation specialist, educator, and lead peer counselor at Hennepin County WIC. In her spare time, Yaa Yaa also works outside of WIC as a community doula and perinatal educator at Everyday Miracles.
Megan Warfield-Kimball (she/her) is a benefit policy specialist at the Department of Human Services. She is the subject matter expert for medical assistance reproductive health policies. She is passionate about ensuring medical assistance members receive the care they need for their reproductive health throughout their life span.
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Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinar
Register for the August Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinar "Supporting Families with Low Milk Supply" presented by Shonte’ Terhune-Smith, BS, IBCLC. Registration opens August 29, to watch whenever and wherever. Approved for one L-CERP, one nurse's contact hour, one social work CE hour, one community health worker CEU, and one certified health education specialist CECH, and one CME until May 28, 2025.
Michigan Breastfeeding Network transitioned to a new learning management system for the Great Lakes Breastfeeding Webinars. Visit glbw.thinkific.com and make an account/log into existing account to view new and existing webinars.
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Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition – annual conference
The MBC Annual Conference 2024 will be held Oct 9 (full day) and Oct 10 (half day) at McNamara Alumni Center, University of Minnesota. The annual event is co-hosted this year by the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Register for this exciting conference filled with an outstanding collection of expert speakers sharing the latest evidence-based research and education on all things lactation. An optional post-conference event tour of the Minnesota Milk Bank for Babies is also planned!
Questions about the conference? Email eventplanning@mnbreastfeedingcoalition.org
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The Week Ahead
Check out upcoming trainings and meetings: Local Agency WIC Calendar
Find new job opportunities on the WIC Job Postings webpage. This week includes:
Submit job postings using the WIC Job Postings survey.
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