(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Advocates for the health and wellbeing of Arkansas families praised the upcoming creation of a telehealth platform for certain recipients of federal nutrition assistance programs, while acknowledging the need to provide greater support for these families.
About 65,000 Arkansans participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), according to Cristy Sellers, the Arkansas Department of Health’s WIC Nutrition Education Coordinator.
In a state with a high poverty rate among roughly 3 million people, 65,000 is actually fewer than the number eligible for WIC, largely due to poor internet connectivity in rural areas, said Cathy May, the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance’s director of WIC outreach.
Additionally, at least half of Arkansas WIC recipients are considered “high-risk” and are required to meet with a registered dietitian within 45 days of enrollment, Sellers told an Arkansas Legislative Council subcommittee last week. The panel gave preliminary approval to ADH’s request for $500,000 in federal funds to build an online platform for the WIC program, and the full Legislative Council granted the request Friday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines high nutritional risk as “medically-based risks … such as anemia, underweight, maternal age, history of pregnancy complications, or poor pregnancy outcomes.”
Being able to connect with dietitians remotely would help WIC recipients who work multiple jobs and might not have time in the workday to drive somewhere to meet a dietitian in person, May said.
“There’s still stigma about programs that are assisting people, like SNAP or WIC, so being able to do it remotely would be helpful with accessibility and lack of transportation,” she said.
Arkansas officials outline next steps in federal broadband grant program
May added that using some of the $500,000, which comes from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, to expand internet access in rural areas would help further.
Arkansas ranks 49th for broadband access, according to a Broadband Now analysis that ranks the country’s best and worst states for internet based on coverage, speed and price access.
However, the 2023 National WIC Association Multi-State Participant Satisfaction Survey “revealed that only 5% of Arkansas respondents viewed limited technology access as a challenge to receiving WIC services,” said Danyelle McNeill, a Department of Health spokesperson.
Last month, the Arkansas State Broadband Office hosted a series of town hall meetings aimed at preparing community leaders to support local projects that will apply for a $1 billion broadband infrastructure grant program later this year.
Danya Arnold, president of the Arkansas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, agreed with May that the Department of Health should have a plan to ensure WIC recipients have internet access and a smartphone.
Arnold called the telehealth funding “a step in the right direction” in a state where “there’s so much more that needs to be done” to reduce food insecurity. Arkansas has the nation’s highest rate of food insecurity, according to a USDA report released earlier this month.
“As health professionals, we [dietitians] can only do so much,” Arnold said. “We can teach you how to prepare things on a budget, but when you’re a single mom of three kids working two jobs, your goal is to keep food on the table and the type of food isn’t going to be as important.”
Additionally, the median annual salary for registered dietitians in Arkansas is between $50,000 and $55,000, which is far below the national average of $79,000 and makes it difficult to recruit dietitians to work in rural areas, Arnold said.
Public health programs nationwide have struggled to recruit and retain dietitians, including for WIC services, McNeill said.
Creating a telehealth platform will ease the workload of the health department’s 13 dietitians that cover the entire state, Chief of Staff Don Adams said last week. The agency needs 40 dietitians to be fully staffed, he said.
The telehealth platform will allow enrollees to schedule future appointments, send and receive documents, and connect with WIC vendor liaisons who can assist them in real time while shopping for groceries, last week’s funding request states. The funding will also allow ADH to train 96 staff for the program.
The platform will also include translation services for WIC recipients who do not speak fluent English, McNeill said.
SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.