Johnson County WIC Coordinator Tracy Smith works with over 3,000 local clients every year.
Waylon O’Donnell | Daily Journal
Johnson County Women, Infants, Children is set to absorb Shelby County’s WIC program as it seeks a new sponsoring agent.
All four of the Shelby branch employees have decided to remain with the organization as their jobs will not be affected by the acquirement, said Johnson County WIC Coordinator Tracy Smith, who leads a team of 14 employees.
“The Shelby County WIC office was looking for a new fiscal agent,” Smith said. “The state WIC office approached us and asked if we would be interested in absorbing and becoming Shelby WIC’s fiscal agent because theirs was no longer able to sponsor them. It makes sense for us because we are in the same region and we have the capacity to do that.”
Every county in Indiana has a corresponding WIC agency, with each requiring a fiscal agent, she said.
Smith, who has been with Johnson County WIC for over 25 years, said that although their branch will now start to pay a few of Shelby County WIC’s utility bills underneath their WIC grant, they will absorb the Shelby’s grant award.
“I knew that they had a very well-organized staff and do a great job over there,” Smith said. “It was really an addition to our WIC team. It is a win-win for everybody. We’re really excited to be working closely with them.”
Johnson County WIC, located at 600 Ironwood Dr., Suite I, Franklin sees about 3,000 clients every month, while Shelby County sees about 1,000. Because other agencies are backed up due to an overload of appointments and short staffing, Johnson County sees a high number of individuals who travel to their agency from the surrounding counties, she said.
“The good thing about WIC is that clients can go to any clinic they want to,” Smith said. “We have people come from Marion County and Columbus. It doesn’t matter what county they live in. We’re seeing a lot of southside, Marion County WIC individuals. We are a very homey, great clinic and a lot of people like to stay here.”
Smith is currently completing a transition plan for state approval. The official date of the absorption will be in early January.
“We have to inform our participants and change our scheduler programming,” she said. “There are things behind the scenes that have to take place. We need a new grant award amendment to officially combine our budgets.”
WIC is a supplemental food program that helps pregnant, post-partum women, and infants and children up to age five. They provide nutritional counseling through registered nurses and have three lactation consultants on staff who encourage breast feeding and provide formula if necessary.
