November 30, 2018 -- The Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), run through the Westchester County Department of Health (WCDH), which provides families with nutrition education, benefits for nutritious foods and more, will be closed during the first week of December so that the program can transition from a paper to an electronic benefits system.
“We are confident this brief closure will pave the way for much easier food shopping for our WIC families,” said Health Commissioner Sherlita Amler, MD. “eWIC cards should streamline the checkout process.”
WIC participants will be able to purchase foods using an electronic benefits card called eWIC. The eWIC card will work like a debit card at the store. This will make the shopping experience easier and more efficient for participants and vendors.
Participants in the WCDH WIC program have been notified over the past few months about the new system and the week-long closure, which is required as part of the statewide rollout. To assure WCDH WIC participants were served prior to rollout, the program extended hours from mid-October through the end of November. To further accommodate WIC families, Westchester County’s WIC offices in Yonkers and Port Chester were open on Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, and on Saturday, November 17, when the WIC offices would normally be closed. Additionally, community partners and referral organizations were notified via mailings, emails and presentations to help ensure they were prepared for WIC agency closures and lighter clinic schedules in the early weeks of rollout.
The Westchester County Department of Health WIC Program serves just under half of the 16,000 women, infants and children that participate in WIC Programs throughout Westchester County. Statewide, more than 424,000 New Yorkers rely on WIC to help them eat and stay healthier. And nationally, about half of all infants benefit from WIC.
For more information, please visit WIC’s webpage at westchestergov.com/health for more information.