California WIC Flash - March 3, 2010
WIC ROCKS THE HILL: At yesterday’s packed full hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by WIC champion George Miller of California, PHFE WIC’s Kiran Saluja completely captivated both Members and audience with her moving testimony about the power of WIC to improve health by supporting more mothers to exclusively breastfeed. Kiran urged the Committee to boldly pursue breastfeeding policy reforms, not only as part of WIC Reauthorization, but outside of WIC, in the institutions and systems serving our population. Coining a new advocacy term, she asked for Congressional help in fixing “breastfeeding-broken hospitals”-- where WIC moms are unfairly undermined in their breastfeeding efforts in the first days of a new baby’s life. Way to go Kiran, thanks from us all! Visit the website to download the testimony and look at videos and pictures of Kiran in action!
CWA IN DC NEXT WEEK: The House hearing this week sets us up for a well-timed trip to DC next week – just as Congress takes up Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization! CWA has scheduled a Capitol Hill Briefing for CA legislative offices on Tuesday, March 9, from 12-1 PM, Room 200 CVS. Invitations have been sent to Legislative staffers. ACTION: Ambassadors, PLEASE follow up with your legislative staff persons and personally invite them to attend the briefing. They need to hear from you! Questions? Stagefright? A webinar is scheduled for TODAY, Wednesday, March 3, 1-2 PM, to help you prepare your advocacy efforts.
CWA AND NWA: California WIC leaders will be actively participating in the NWA Leadership Conference and Breastfeeding Summit, March 7-9. NOTE: The Breastfeeding Summit is inclusive of the conference. So, if you are registered for the conference, you are also registered for the summit. Make sure to attend the Advocacy workshop organized by NWA for rookies and veterans on Sunday from 11:00-noon, before the Conference opens, but also attend the California Caucus meeting that evening at 5:30 to get your packets and “marching orders.” See you in DC!
VILSACK COMES TO LA: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack will be visiting the East Los Angeles Community Center this Thursday, March 4th from 3-4:30 pm for a community forum about the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. This forum will be a unique opportunity to learn what is happening to end childhood hunger. It will also be an opportunity for the Secretary and panelists to answer your questions about the President and the First Lady’s efforts to provide access to healthy and affordable food for all American children as part of the Let’s Move initiative. To RSVP for this roundtable, please send an email to collaborate@usda.gov.
BREASTFEEDING POLICY BRIEFING, SACRAMENTO: Supporting Women & Families – Improving Health Equity. CWA is sponsoring an Informational hearing at the State Capitol, March 18, Room 112, 10-11:30am. While the decision to breastfeed is a personal one, a mother’s ability to breastfeed successfully is impacted by environmental factors that aid or impede her plan to provide her baby with the best nutrition. Is breastfeeding a policy matter? Come learn how breastfeeding policy reforms can improve health equity. Hear the latest from medical professionals, policy experts – and directly from breastfeeding WIC moms about the barriers they face. No RSVP needed, just come! Information at www.calwic.org
ACTIONS FOR HEALTHY LIVING President Bill Clinton joined Governor Schwarzenegger for the Governor’s 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity: Actions for Healthy Living in Los Angeles on Feb 24. Three focus areas of discussion were: promoting healthy beverages, increasing physical activity and incorporating the idea of “health in all policies. For the Summit details, please click here. Read the list of recommendations out forward for the Summit by Strategic Alliance.
WIC CAN HELP: We hope you have been sharing the resources on Unemployment Assistance and EITC with WIC families. This month’s theme is Census 2010. The 2010 Census will help low-income communities receive more than $400 billion in federal funds each year for everything from health care to streets. We need to assure WIC families that it’s safe to talk to census-takers! Please use the resources and encourage WIC participants to complete and mail their short census forms and be counted! Download resources in multiple languages from here.
UI BENEFITS: On Feb 28, the federal program providing unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and COBRA health coverage option for the long-term unemployed expired. Up to 1.2 million workers will prematurely lose these benefits by the end of this month. Efforts to pass the short-term extension through April 5 were stymied by Senator Jim Bunning’s (KY-R) refusal to support it. For estimates of the numbers who will lose benefits by state, see the analysis by the National Employment Law Project.
WIC GOES PLATINUM! ANNUAL CWA CONF MAY 2-5, SAN DIEGO: Registration has been brisk and the hotel room block is full. Check here for information on the overflow hotel and for the conference program. Note changes in Preconference sessions: Grow and Glow Breastfeeding Training and UCLA Fuel Up, Lift Off Worksite Wellness training will be offered on Sun. May 2. Information on the Academy for Participant-Centered Leadership (APL) will be available at their booth in the Trade Show, not as a preconference.
Get set for a truly platinum experience this year! Highlights include WIC to Farm Tour on Sun. May 2! Dance to Thriller, Platinum Costume Contest, and Iron Chef Wellness Cook-Off on Mon, May 4. Big News! Acclaimed food writer and cookbook author Marie Simmons and Top Chef Contestant Brain Malarkey will be the judges of the USA Rice Federation sponsored Win fabulous prizes. Get your chef hat ready and be sure to enter your brown rice recipe. Here is an example to jump start your winning recipe. Local Agency Sharing on May 3 and 4! Please provide a sharing table on any of the many great projects and initiatives you have going on in your agency. This can be simple- the main idea is to share ideas and not reinvent ideas. Click here for info. Send in request for a sharing table by Mar. 10 to be included in the program.WIC Wellness Room. New! Have your blood pressure and BMI checked. Get a nutrition screening with Nutrition for You (by appt.-see the webpage below). Sit down for a consult on becoming a Well WIC Worksite. Info and receive materials for Hopping to Health and Fitness, Health Net’s worksite wellness program. Visit the Wellness Room on Mon. or Tues.
VOICES FROM THE GROUND: By capturing personal stories about the new WIC foods, including breastfeeding support, the learner-centered Healthy Habits education campaign, staff wellness efforts, and collaborations with providers and community partners, CWA would like to document WIC history. We look forward to hearing perspectives from WIC families, staff, vendors and partners. If you have a story to share, please e-mail Kinkini at kbanerjee@calwic.org.
NEW SUPERMARKET FOR SOUTH LA: Access to stores that sell affordable healthful food is a problem in urban Los Angeles communities.. So, it was a happy occasion when Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry welcomed Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market as opened its doors last week in the heart of South Los Angeles. Thiscommunity has been in need of more fresh food options for generations. Community residents have to travel as far as 10 miles for better retail options. And the best news: Fresh & Easy is in the process of becoming authorized to accept WIC checks -- systemwide. Hooray!
WIC WATCH IS OUT: The Winter Edition of WIC WATCH is in your mailboxes. Please make sure and share it with your frontline staff, as it contains an overview of our new WIC Goes Platinum campaign and preview of conference activities. Additional copies can be downloaded under Publications on our website, www.calwic.org .
ANTIDEPRESSANTS AND BREASTFEEDING: A study that looked at the effects of maternal use of antidepressants on breastfeeding, found that antidepressant use was associated with delayed lactation. (From the Greater L.A. Breastfeeding Bee)
MARCH IS NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH: The 2010 theme is Nutrition from the Ground Up — a return to basics. Use the media materials and blogs to reinforce healthy eating.
NUTRITION RESOURCE: Check out the new blog at the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition at where you can share your best practices.
EASY VOTER GUIDE: The next Statewide Primary Election is on June 8, 2010. The Easy Voter Guide Project has launched a new series of nonpartisan educational materials called Fast Facts that simplify complex subjects like ballot measures and the budget to help Californians better understand their government and elections. Translations will be available soon. The FREE Easy Voter Guide booklet, providing nonpartisan information on the candidates and elected offices, political parties, propositions and registering and voting can be ordered here. For more information, please visit http://ca.lwv.org/
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Note: We invite readers to submit information about training announcements that promote a range of issues supporting healthy living environments.
* Binational Promotores Conference 2010. The Health Initiative Of The Americas
A progam of University of California Berkeley, School of Public Health. Mar 11 and 12,
Fort Mason, San Francisco, California.
Registration.
* Lactose Intolerance and Health. NIH Consensus Development Conference. HHS. NIH. Feb. 22–24, Bethesda, Maryland. Details and registration info here
* 2010 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference. Co-sponsored by the Food Research and Action Center and Feeding America, in cooperation with the National CACFP Forum. Mar. 7-9, Washington, D.C. Register at conference website.
* Overcoming Barriers to Breastfeeding. Carol Suchy RN, BSN, IBCLC; Barbara M. Tcheng, MD; Elaine Robertson, IBCLC. Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles. California Hospital Medical Center, March 17. Information/questions: (213) 596-5776 or website.
* Webinar On Soft Drink Tax. The Rudd Center Director, Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, have scheduled a discussion on soft drink taxes and how they can address obesity. Updates on the latest developments in state and local policies, and an overview of the rationale, relevant science, and economic and policy considerations of soft drink taxes will be discussed. The webinar will be listen-only, but participants will have the opportunity to type questions in real time. March 9, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET. https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/502290467
* The Myths, Medicine and Management of Mothers' Milk. SWAG Conferences. Fritzi Drosten RN, IBCLC, Thomas Hale R.Ph., Ph.D, Julie Mennella Ph.D., March 12-13, Berkeley, CA For Registration details, go to http://www.SWAGconferences.org Or contact SWAGconferences@aol.com, 650-755-7165. Early bird Conference Registration (for 1 or 2 days) is January 30.
* Lactation: An Advanced Update And Review. Molly Pessl, BSN, IBCLC. Presented by Evergreen Perinatal Education And Swag Conferences Llc. Apr.15-16, Oakland. Contact Sue Wirth at SWAGconferences@aol.com or 510-524-6917.
* Depression and the Breastfeeding Mother. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC. Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles. Torrance Memorial Medical Center
April 16. Information/questions: (213) 596-5776 or website
* What are we missing? The puzzle of low milk supply. Lisa Marasco, MA, IBCLC, FILCA; James Murphy, MD; Diana West, BA, IBCLC; Monika Woolsey, MS, RD; and special guest comedian Kat Simmons. May 13 & 14; Roseville, CA. Contact Mary Wagner-Davis mwdlll07@gmail.com for brochures and information.
* Certified Lactation Specialist Course. June 21-25, 8-5:30pm Monday-Friday, Santa Barbara at the Public Health Department Auditorium.Early Bird Registration $685. Register online with LEC at www.lactationeducationconsultants.com
* UCSD Extension Lactation Educator Courses:
Lactation Educator Counselor
Spring Online: Start Date: March 29, 2010 End Date: June 12, 2010 .
Citrus Valley Hospital, West Covina, CA. Dates: Mar. 22,23,24 and May 24-25, 2010 (Must attend all dates).
Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Long Beach, CA. Dates: April 6, 7, 8 and June 7-8, 2010 (Must attend all dates).
Sacramento, CA, Dates: Apr. 28, 29, 30 and June 9, 10, 11, 2010.
Loma Linda, CA, Dates: June 21, 22, 23 and July 27-28, 2010
Lactation Specialist – Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative
Location: Spring Online, Start Date: March 29, 2010 End Date: June 12, 2010
Imperial Valley, CA, Dates: March 2-3, 2010
For more information or to enroll, call (858) 964-1010 or email unexhealthcare@ucsd.edu
Looking Back
Click below for past California WIC Flash Reports.
To sign up for the Flash Reports, email Kinkini Banerjee at kbanerjee@calwic.org.