Guilford County’s supplemental nutritional program for financially challenged pregnant women and new mothers – WIC (Women, Infants and Children) – is currently facing a challenge itself.
The floors at the Greensboro office at 1100 E. Wendover Ave. and the High Point office at 501 E. Green Dr. are so dated, ugly and stained that county officials worry it is keeping needy pregnant women and new moms from coming to the office to get services.
The Guilford County Public Health Division is receiving funds of $85,200 from the NC Division of Child and Family Well-Being that can be used to enhance WIC services. The mission for WIC is to provide “supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, and referrals to health care for low-income persons during critical periods of growth and development.”
Of the $85,200 in state funding for the program, county health officials plan to spend $65,000 for new flooring at the Greensboro and High Point offices.
Health officials note that, since COVID restrictions have been lifted, more participants are now coming to the WIC office in-person – which means better-looking floors are more important than ever.
A county memo regarding the expenditure notes, “In order to attract new participants and retain current ones, it is important that the WIC clinic be inviting. The flooring we currently have is very dated and through various renovations and furniture moves has become damaged and stained.”
This $20,200 of grant money left over from the flooring project will be used to hire nutrition staff obtained from a temp agency. According to information provided by health staff to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, the WIC section has experienced a higher than usual turnover in the past year. That, together with increasing caseloads, has made it difficult to serve clients in a timely fashion. The new temporary staff will help ensure that existing staff have a manageable workload.
In order to attract new participants and retain current ones, it is important that the WIC clinic be inviting. The flooring we currently have is very dated and through various renovations and furniture moves has become damaged and stained.”
Oh yeah! People wanting free assistance are put off by old floors.
Let me get this right…people in need of taxpayer funding to feed their children really care about a dirty and outdated floor. Perhaps using that money to hire someone (preferably someone receiving these funds) to keep the floors clean would make more sense.
Regarding WIC needing new flooring, certainly the truly responsive, but truly needy should not feel as though they are walking through the gutter to get needed help. But, many of those with several children and seeking help have been on the welfare list since the time they had only one child (and some with children of different fathers to whom they were not married. How can that group of irresponsible parents continue to collect help while there are so many needy parents in unavoidable despair?
How about demanding verifiable personal responsibility before continuing to support their lifestyle?
Exactly how understaffed are they to have to reach out to a temp agency? Perhaps they should determine the cause of the high turnover.
Meanwhile, pregnant women in other countries are delighted to have someone provide “free care” in a thatch huts with dirt floors. What an entitled bunch of bull spit. The building I work in has stained floors, stained ceilings, drafty windows, leaky pipes, a boiler that flames out on its own, etc. We shut up & get the job done. The government owns it, and doesn’t give a damn. Oh, that’s right, we’re not a social(ist) program kind of department. Oops, I almost believed that for a moment. Almost all government is a socialist construct nowadays & we could do with FAR less of it.
Considering the amount of revenue Guilford county is now getting they damn well better be able to maintain county owned facilities. I’m thinking 80k for a floor usnt even a drop on the bucket.
I’ve had my share of children. I don’t even want to hear the phrase “pregnant woman”. It might rub off again.