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DECEMBER 2017

VOLUME 26 NUMBER 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

NH WIC inspires, promotes and supports healthy behaviors.

 

The Spec ia l Suppl ementa l Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Chi ld r en (WIC) provides nutritious foods, nutri-tion education, breastfeeding sup-port, and h e a l t h care referrals to low- income women, infants, and children. The WIC Program is a federally funded program b y the Food and Nutrition Service, US Department of Agriculture. The N H Department of Health and Human Services, Division of P u b l i c H e a l t h S e r v i c e s , N u t r i t i o n S e r v i c e s S e c tion administers WIC in New Hampshire.  

eWIC Is Coming!!!! The New Hampshire WIC Program has been working on transitioning from paper vouchers to electronic benefits. The United States Department of Agricultural (USDA) has a mandate that all states be converted to electronic benefits by 2020. In October, the final contact was signed with Conduent (Xerox) to begin this process. Over the next several months we will be working closely with Conduent to convert our process to electronic issuance of benefits. During this process, Conduent and the WIC Program will be contacting our authorized vendors to assess system requirements that will be needed in your store for certification. We will also be discussing training requirements for your stores. The vendor website located at: https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/nhp/wic/vendors.htm will have updates each month on information related to the eWIC pilot and statewide rollout. Please check this website frequently to stay on top of eWIC news. The Vendor Advisory Council will be meeting January 24, 2018 to discuss the next steps and begin identifying who the contacts for each store/chain will be for eWIC. Our goal is to begin the eWIC pilot in July of 2018. Strafford County will be the pilot area. Rollout to the rest of the state will depend on the success of the pilot. We are hoping to have the state completely transitioned to eWIC by the fall of 2018.

We are very excited to begin the eWIC process and we look forward to working with each of you to bring eWIC to New

Hampshire. Thank you for your patience and support through this process.

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The New Hampshire WIC Register

Nutrition Corner 2

WIC Billing 3

Save the Date 3

Register Contest 3

Price Surveys 4

Merrilee Retirement 4

Www.signupwic.com 4

WIC FAQs 5

Register Routing: Store Owner(s)____, ____ Store Manager____, ____ Assistant Manager____, ____, ____, ____ CSM’S____, ____, ____, ____ Grocery Managers____, ____, Bookkeeper____, ____ Trainers____, ____, ____, ____ Head Cashiers____, ____ Service Desk Personnel____, ____, ____ Other Store Personnel____, ____, ____, ____, ____

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Nutrition Corner 

Health Eating During The Holidays 

Can you believe the holidays are here already? It is that time of year to gather with family and friends to celebrate! Along with the holiday season, often comes an abundance of different foods to enjoy.

Here are a few tips to help keep your healthy eating on track:

1) Think about your drink: Many drinks contain a lot of empty calories. Stick to low-fat milk, unsweetened tea or water.

2) Portion Control and Moderation: Eating healthy does not mean you can’t indulge a little: Try enjoying your favorite holiday foods in smaller portions and make healthy substitutions when you can.

3) Cook with lots of fruits and vegetables: Use plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables to add bulk and important nutrients to your dishes without extra fat, salt or sugars.

4) Plan an activity: Find a way to be active! Go for a walk after eating a holiday meal, or participate in another winter sport or activity.

5) Location, Location, Location: Don’t stand near the table of munchies to help remove the temptation to continuously snack.

6) Eat healthier options first: Try eating a broth based soup, fruits and veggies, or a salad first so you eat less during the main course.

All of us at WIC wish you a happy (and healthy) holiday season!

Reminders WIC Billing When submitting WIC invoices for payment and you use an ink stamp for your vendor number, please make sure you stamp all four copies of the invoice. Do not stamp just the top white copy. Thanks! Vouchers and Voucher Folders When a participant leaves their vouchers or voucher folder in the store you are required to call us within 24 hours (not including week-ends) so we can contact the participant and have them return to the store to pick them up. DO NOT mail them back to the State office.

WIC Register Contest This edition of the Register Contest will challenge your knowledge of WIC foods and how well you retained the facts from our Nutrition Corner article in the September 2016 edition. 1. True or False (circle your answer)

Pumpkin is high in antioxidants. 2. True or False (circle your answer)

Sweet potatoes have very little protein, vitamin A, and dietary fiber.

3. True or False (circle your answer) Swiss Chard is sometimes called strawberry spinach.  

NAME: ____________________ STORE: ____________________  STORE ADDRESS: _______________________________________  Return a completed form to Laurie Desmarais. Mail to: WIC Program, 29 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03301-6504 or fax to: Laurie Desmarais, Vendor Manager at 603-271-4779. Good luck! The first five entries that are received and have all the correct answers will receive a prize. This contest is only open to store personnel who work for stores that are currently participating in the NH WIC Program. If several people from one store would like to enter the contest they may make additional copies of the contest and submit them separately.

Save The Date Transitioning to eWIC will require training to be completed. Every year we have an optional Train the Trainer class that is held in April. This time the Train the Trainer class will be held on April 18th and 19th of 2018 and will be a mandatory class for all stores. We will have a morning and afternoon session on each day to give everyone the opportunity to attend. More updates on this class will be sent as the date gets closer.

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WIC Price Surveys

Price surveys will be sent out the last week of November. Please make sure staff is using the new version of the WIC Approved Food list with the effective date of July 2017 when completing the survey.

The price surveys are due back no later than December 15, 2017. All price surveys will be completed electronically by going to the following website: https://forms.nh.gov/onlineforms

Merrilee Cutter  

After 37 years of NH State service, 33 years with WIC, Merrilee is calling it a day and is ready to enjoy retirement with her husband and furry creatures!

Merrilee is the claims processor for the WIC Program. She is responsible for paying all our vendors that submit paper vouchers.

We ask Merrilee what are her plans for retirement?

My plans for retirement are to just relax through the winter, and to not have to go anywhere for a few months will be great. Feed the wood Stove, Feed my husband and my two cats…..Life is good. Once we have better weather, travel the country.

Merrilee will be missed. We wish her a wonderful retirement!

www.signupWIC.com In New Hampshire, 3229 people have visited signupwic.com and 1835 WIC site searches have been successfully completed between December 1, 2016 through September 20, 2017.

Let’s keep promoting this tool for outreach!

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WIC FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

This section is a summary of questions that we receive at the State WIC office. If you have any questions related to WIC business, we encourage you to call Laurie Desmarais, Vendor Manager at 1-800-852-3310 ext.4935.

Q: Should the store give the participant a receipt if they use an alternate form of payment to pay for overages beyond the value of the fruits & vegetable voucher?

A: If the participant asks for a receipt to show proof of overage payment, the store may give the participant a duplicate receipt. The original receipt must stay with the voucher. This is only done for the fruit and vegetable voucher when an overage payment is made. The store should not be giving a receipt for any other voucher. 

Q: When is a voucher considered to be late billed? A: All vouchers must be submitted within 30 days of the date that is written on the voucher in the purchase date area or they cannot be paid.

Q: What is a store required to have to show proof of employee training? A: Stores must show proof of a log sheet for training which lists the date of the training, name of the trainer, name of employee being trained, signature of employee and the type of training conducted. In addition, proof of training materials used for training must be provided. A training binder must be kept with the required three types of training which are: new hire issues and updates.

If you have any questions regarding the content of this newsletter, please contact Laurie Desmarais at 800-852-3310 Ext. 4935 or email lfdesmarais@dhhs.nh.gov.

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