Wisconsin WIC: Online Nutrition Education in Wisconsin

For years Wisconsin State and Local WIC Agencies saw many barriers to accessing WIC services, including distance for clients to travel to a clinic, limited transportation options, dangerous weather conditions, and staffing shortages. There were always ideas floating around about ways to close the access gap. When the grant opportunity was released, the State Agency team was already working on piloting remote nutrition services at a local agency. They then were presented with an opportunity from a previous content provider about utilizing an online resource hub. The team saw the pieces starting to align, and decided to combine the two ideas to increase accessibility across the state of Wisconsin. 

Project Overview

Wisconsin WIC proposed to use Online Nutrition Education (ONE), an online platform of curated nutrition tools, guides, and resources to aid staff in delivering nutrition education. The platform was created to serve as an online center for materials, lessons, and a link to the WIC app. 

Evaluation

Contracting and Request for Proposal (RFP) 

Wisconsin WIC partnered with a Nutrition Matters, a longstanding vendor, to pilot a platform that would serve the needs of the community. The teams set out in a mutually beneficial partnership to create this online nutrition service hub together. Nutrition Matters would have the opportunity to pilot the resources, and the WI WIC team would have the opportunity to pilot a solution to their access limitations. The team described contracting as a seamless process since the rapport had already been built. Additionally, Nutrition Matters had staff members on their team who had previous experience with WIC. The understanding of WIC processes and procedures was beneficial in ensuring contracting was as easy as possible.

Advice for Others

Telehealth Education

In 2019 when Wisconsin WIC set out to create a telehealth solution, telehealth was a general concept used to describe online health resources. With the COVID-19 pandemic and rise of remote appointments, Wisconsin WIC saw that WIC staff were expecting telehealth to be video conferencing. Wisconsin WIC began to realize that if they were going to use the phrase telehealth, they were going to have to explain that the project included online nutrition education, but did not include video conferencing. They suggested that as the world of telehealth expands, education is important on the different ways that technology can be used to deliver health related services.  

Staff Buy In

Integrating a new system takes a team. One of Wisconsin WIC’s major successes was the buy in from their staff. The staff members at the local agencies are critical to the success of an intervention. Wisconsin State WIC engaged with local agency staff several times throughout the development and early implementation stages to ensure they were comfortable with the new online platform. The staff underwent trainings, as well as check ins to ensure there was understanding of ONE. Wisconsin WIC had been using Nutrition Matters materials in the clinic offices, so in addition to trainings, the underlying content was familiar to staff making it easier to use and trust.  

Open Communication

Communication during implementation is essential for success. When implementing their intervention, Wisconsin WIC created a discussion board that allowed staff members to ask the state office questions, or ask the platform vendor questions directly in an effort to eliminate the middle man. The discussion board has also fostered communication among the staff and implementing agencies so they can share best practices, lessons learned, and troubleshoot together. Prior to launch and for several weeks after, “office hours” were hosted weekly where staff members could ask questions or share thoughts with the state agency team. The Wisconsin WIC team’s goal is to foster a system of open communication where everyone has support, learns from one another, and feels confident using the new platform with their clients.  

Assess the Needs of Your Clients

The pandemic brought about changes in the processes and operation of WIC agencies. One of the major changes was institution of the physical presence waivers. The pandemic forced everyone to switch to remote appointments, and the continuation of physical presence waivers has meant most agencies continue to provide services remotely, in most cases by phone. The team described the online nutrition services as “enhancing the nutrition services” already being provided on the phone, a shift in their original proposal. 

 

Wisconsin’s telehealth solution is well underway and they are seeing success in the use of online nutrition services. Clients have been using the platform to view articles, complete independent nutrition education lessons, and find WIC specific recipes. While Wisconsin has had its challenges with implementation such as dealing with the infant formula shortage and pandemic , they are excited about the impact using their online nutrition education tool will have on the population. 

The Wisconsin WIC Team 

Charissa Fritzen-Pedicini, WIC and Nutrition Section Epidemiologist

Jennifer Johnson, WIC Training Coordinator/Staff Development Specialist

Kaila Baer, WIC Nutrition Service Cordinator

For more information on North Carolina WIC please visit their website here