Starting in 2005, the Snohomish Health District will take over a program that helps more than 9,000 pregnant women, new mothers and children 5 and younger get food and nutrition services.
Since the 1970s, the federal-state program Women, Infants and Children has been run in the county by the nonprofit group Pregnancy Aid of Snohomish County.
On Tuesday, the Snohomish Health District board approved taking over the program.
Participants who meet low-income guidelines receive nutrition and medical screenings, nutrition education, nutritious food and information on breast feeding. To qualify, a single mother with two children must make no more than $28,231 a year.
The change in who runs the program was sought by the state Health Department after fiscal problems were found during audits of Pregnancy Aid of Snohomish County.
Once the health district takes over, help probably will be available at the Snohomish Health District’s Everett and Lynnwood offices, and at two sites not yet chosen that will serve the northern and eastern parts of the county, said Charlene Shambach, assistance director of community health.
No specific date has been set for the change, she said, nor do health district officials yet know how women will be notified of the change.
Taking over the program is expected to cost the public health agency $50,000 a year, said health officer Dr. M. Ward Hinds. It will receive slightly more than $1 million a year from the state to run the program. About a dozen employees will be hired, he said.
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