WIC

At San Juan Basin Public Health’s WIC program, we believe that all pregnant woman, infants and children deserve nutritious food. WIC makes it easy to learn about nutrition and breastfeeding and provides a debit card to buy healthy foods. We believe that moms and dads strive to provide the best for themselves and their children and sometimes need a little help along the way.

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Interested in WIC?

CONTACT

WIC is open but handling all appointments by phone due to COVID-19.

Please schedule your appointment in advance by calling:

Durango | 970 335 2026

Pagosa Springs | 970 264 2409 x3002

WIC SERVICES

Appointments

Your first visit will last anywhere from one to two hours; initial appointments for pregnant women typically only take an hour, while individuals who already have one or more children will need to plan for a longer first appointment. At the first WIC appointment, we will confirm eligibility, and screen you and your child(ren) for height, weight, and hemoglobin (check blood for anemia). We will also conduct a nutrition interview and provide appropriate nutrition education and referrals, if necessary.

After enrollment, you will receive an eWIC debit card to use (starting that day!) at local participating grocery stores, which you may use to purchase nutritious WIC foods.

Please bring:

Identification
Proof of physical address
Proof of income

Breastfeeding Support

WIC mothers are strongly encouraged to breastfeed their infants unless there is a medical reason not to. Research shows there is no better food than breast milk during a baby’s first year of life. Breastfeeding provides many health, nutritional, economical, and emotional benefits to mother and baby.

WIC provides access to trained breastfeed peer counselors for any interested moms.

Local Breastfeeding Resources Guide

Eligibility

WIC is for all kinds of families: married and single parents, working or not working. If you’re a father, mother, grandparent, foster parent or other legal guardian of a child under 5, you can apply for WIC. Individuals who receive Health First Colorado (Medicaid) are automatically eligible for WIC and even those who are over income for Health First Colorado qualify; one may be on WIC and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the same time.

You can participate in Colorado WIC if you:

Live in Colorado; U.S. citizenship is not required
Are pregnant or breastfeeding, and/or have a child younger than 5 years
Have a family income less than WIC guidelines
Currently receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or Health First Colorado (Medicaid)
Have a foster child under age five

eWIC

Colorado WIC recently switched from using paper WIC checks to a convenient eWIC debit card.

WIC clients can expect a better shopping experience and fewer trips to the WIC office:

Swipe card instead of using paper checks
No need to separate WIC items at check out
No need to buy all WIC items at once
Check your eWIC balance by logging in online or see remaining balance on receipt
We can load and adjust monthly benefits remotely instead of printing checks at our office.
Replace some in-person appointments with an online nutrition education lesson. Complete a lesson on WICHealth.org and we’ll load your benefits remotely.

Food Access

With supplementary grant funding, SJBPH WIC and a network of local partners were able to increase access to healthy foods and promote the WIC program through a free farm stand, a new preschool garden, and on-site placement and promotion strategies for healthy foods at local Head Start centers. The Garden Project of Southwest Colorado and Tri-County Head Start helped facilitate free farm stands – “Manna Markets” – geared towards low-income community members in La Plata County. Additionally, the WIC program has provided a great return on investment given its benefit to the local economy by contributing over $500,000 in retail value for healthy foods in 2016.