NORTHEAST KINGDOM — In a partnership with Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL), Women, Infants and Children (WIC) will now permanently offer remote appointments in order to ensure families can receive care regardless of transportation or distance. Remote services have been available since the pandemic, operating under special program waivers.
A program that’s been in existence for 50 years, WIC is the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, infants and children. WIC provides food benefits, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, counseling and programs for pregnant Vermonters, parents and caregivers with children under five. Vermont’s WIC program serves approximately 11,000 participants across the state.
A key challenge for families has historically been accessing in-person services due to barriers like transportation or scheduling, said Amy Malinowski, who works with WIC.
Amy Malinowski works at the Vermont Department of Health for the WIC program, overseeing quality improvement and evaluation work for the program. Malinowski has spent nearly 20 years in the field, and been in her current position for 10. She spoke about how the partnership benefits providers and participants, explaining that data collection was negatively impacted by the pandemic, precipitating the partnership with VITL.
VITL is the health information exchange for the state, meaning they collect data from the medical records of hospitals and health centers and independent practices all over Vermont.
“So for our staff it means the ability to support families even when they maybe can’t make it into an in-person appointment because people’s schedules are very busy, transportation can be a barrier, we still have the information that we need to conduct those health assessments,” she said.
The partnership also eases up some of the demands that medical provider officers might face, because WIC staff can access the data themselves in lieu of asking the doctors office, Malinowski said.
VITL director of product and engagement, Maurine Gilbert said one of VITL’s goals is to make data sharing more efficient and seamless. “We know that for WIC staff, having access to the data in VITL means they save time on these records requests to hospitals and practices. And then of course, as Amy said, for the practices, they save time too. So that’s more time for them to be able to spend with their patients if they’re not spending this time responding to records requests. It also means fewer duplicated tests because that data is already available.”
Malinwoski said some of the local staff have been able to work out a hybrid remote schedule, which has been beneficial from an employee retention perspective.
She continued, “So I think for a lot of folks, you know, they’ll go to a doctor’s office and get a test one week and they don’t expect to get asked to do that test again the next week. Our partnership, the VITL-WIC partnership, really helps deliver on that promise and meet that expectation that data is being shared effectively between these folks that need it, between these professionals that need it.”
So far, the program has seen some encouraging results: 68% of phone appointments were kept statewide in 2024, compared to just 55% for in-person visits. In St. Johnsbury 58% of phone appointments were kept, compared to just 51% for in-person visits.
WIC has 12 district offices for the health department, serving the 14 counties of the state. Malinowski said “I think it’s been helpful across the board, whether it’s rural or not, just because of the convenience for families and for staff.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misattributed Malinowski’s comments to others.
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
