“When people learn to keep their bodies healthy at a young age, they have a tendency to continue to make good choices.”
Tracy Smith has been involved with Empower Johnson County since the initial development of the coalition in 2015. Tracy is the Johnson County Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) Coordinator- a position that she has held for the past 21 years! She fell in love with the WIC program during her dietetic internship and continues to be incredibly passionate about her job. To provide additional assistance to her WIC families, she furthered her education in 2008 to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.
Tracy believes that a special part of being in this field is the opportunity to network and collaborate with various community partners to provide needed resources to those who would benefit from WIC’s services. We sat down with Tracy to learn more about those collaborations and hear how her job as the WIC Coordinator helps move Empower Johnson County’s mission forward. See what she had to say below.
How did you get involved with Empower Johnson County?
How is WIC helping to reduce youth substance use in Johnson County?
What future goals do you have for Empower?
Tell Us About Johnson County WIC…
What are two things people may not realize about WIC?
More About Johnson County WIC
WIC is a nutrition program that provides:
- healthy foods
- nutrition counseling
- height, weight & iron assessment
- breastfeeding support
- free breastfeeding classes to the public
- and more!
To provide the best standard of care, Johnson County WIC staff are also registered dietitians, nurses, and lactation consultants. If families do not have Medicaid or Food stamps, WIC uses household income. WIC only screens income from the past 30 days, which means if an individual or family has an income drop such as maternity leave, seasonal work, or Covid related job loss, they may qualify. Reach out to WIC by calling: 317-736-6628. For more information visit their website, Facebook, or Instagram pages.