By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


The local health department has passed an audit of one of its support programs with flying colors.

The Livingston County Health Department’s Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program received zero citations during a recent state audit. This is the first time that LCHD WIC has achieved this accomplishment, and they are continuing on that path as one of only two counties yet to receive a citation so far this year.

Every 2 years WIC programs are evaluated against 33 indicators of success. Those indicators look at factors like policies, timeliness of scheduled visits, documentation of client interactions, and the benefits, referral resources and nutrition and breastfeeding resources available to clients.

During the pandemic, the health department’s WIC caseload increased 14-percent. WIC provided over 1,700 Livingston County clients more than $830,000 in food money during 2020.

Program Coordinator Amy Pendell said that during the Stay Home, Stay Safe order, the WIC team re-evaluated their strategies to ensure they could continue providing services. She said that they want to be certain that their clients have what they need when they need it and that their team is dedicated to helping and going beyond.

Last year, the team successfully transitioned appointments to tele-visits, digitalized handouts for ease of access, and sent benefit cards through overnight delivery to make sure they got to those in need, swiftly.

WIC serves low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and infants and children who are found to be at nutritional risk.

To learn more about the Livingston County program, visit the link below.