WIC opens new Navy Hill clinic

The Women, Infants and Children program officially opened its new clinic on Navy Hill during a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday.

The WIC clinic was previously based at the Commonwealth Health Center while some administration services were based on Navy Hill.

The WIC program is a federally funded supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children up to 5 years old.

With the new clinic, services could be centralized in one location, according to Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez.

“It centralized everything to be more efficient, ” he said. “In the past some clients were down temporarily in the old building and had to rush up here.”

The new clinic also focuses on energy efficiency, which will save money, Villagomez added. There is a bid out for a wind turbine that will provide alternative energy to the clinic. The clinic’s backup generator will not only provide the clinic power if there is an outage but excess power will be sold back to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

Although the clinic was renovated from an existing building, it looks almost new, Villagomez said.

There have been challenges for the CNMI WIC chapter, which opened in August 2007, but the clinic signifies progress, Villagomez said.

“There’s been a lot of growing pains, but we’re turning a corner,” he said, adding that WIC services are now offered on Tinian and will be offered on Rota starting in January.

Gov. Benigno Fitial, during his remarks, said the CNMI WIC program has infused substantial federal funds into the local economy and created at least 19 new jobs. DPH, through the WIC program, has secured more than $6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture since WIC started. Nearly $400,000 of that funding from fiscal year 2008 was used to fund the new clinic.

For fiscal year 2009, the CNMI WIC chapter will receive $4 million in funding with $2.8 million of that going directly into the local economy through the form of food vouchers, Fitial said.

“These funds will support retail grocery stores that participate in the WIC programs—directly supporting local businesses that pay taxes and create jobs. By late next year, our local farm economy will also be supported with the introduction of WIC’s new food package for fresh local fruits and vegetables,” he said.

WIC program director Josephine Tudela also gave brief remarks during the ceremony.

In August, officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture toured the clinic while it was under construction.

“I think it’s great they’re moving out here on their own,” said Nancy Montanez Johner, Undersecretary for the USDA’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences program, while touring the building.

In October, WIC implemented a new computer based program to expedite record keeping.