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Story and photo by Airman 1st Class Holly Cook
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Servicing the largest military community in Europe, the Ramstein Women, Infants and Children Overseas program is helping military members who qualify for the chance to meet all their children’s nutrition needs.
“We offer nutrition education to educate participants about healthier eating habits, drafts to buy these foods and referrals to outside resources that may help them get any further assistance that they might need,” said Beth Danowsky, 86th Medical Group regional manager for WIC overseas and registered dietician.
These services are available to active-duty service members, Department of Defense civilian employees, DOD contractors and their families.
“Participants who may qualify include: expectant mothers, post-partum and breast-feeding mothers, infants and children until the end of the month in which they turn age 5,” Danowsky said.
Expectant mothers qualify throughout pregnancy and during the first six weeks after giving birth. Mothers, after giving birth, are qualified until the infant is 6 months old if bottle-feeding or 1 year old if breast-feeding.
“The qualification also depends on their household income and size of family,” Danowsky said.
If the participant qualifies to be enrolled into the WIC Overseas program, all benefits will be explained in full detail during their first appointment. Information on all healthy foods that can be purchased with the drafts and nutrition education will be offered to qualifying members will be given at the initial appointment.
“One of the classes that we are offering is a monthly breast-feeding class,” Danowsky said.
This class is held from 10:30 a.m. to noon the first Wednesday of every month in Bldg. 2118 in the third floor conference room. The class is great for new mothers who want to learn more about breast-feeding their baby.
Since 2001, the Ramstein WIC office has been servicing the largest military community in Europe.
“We are here to (support) military members and support the military mission by providing these benefits,” Danowsky said.
For more about the WIC program and the benefits they provide, call 480-4466 or 06371-47-4466. For those outside the KMC, visit www.tricare.mil/wic to locate the nearest WIC overseas office.
