April 18, 2011

Farm Direct Update

Farmer’s Market season is just around the corner and we are excited to expand our program this year.  Farmer’s Markets are a healthy and fun way for participants to get the fruits and vegetables they need. 

The farmers in your area can participate in the Farm Direct Program even if your local agency does not have an FMNP contract. If you want more information about Farm Direct and FMNP, please contact Carrie Reynolds or Bree Thompson in the State office.

If your agency is already participating, please be sure to submit completed application packets for new famers.  These include applications, agreements and training materials.  Participating Local Agencies were sent packets to conduct annual training with all authorized farmers for the 2011 market season. Many of the necessary forms are also available on the Local Agency page.

Annual training should be completed no later than May 31. Farmers not meeting this requirement risk having their stamp terminated. Now is a great time to start calling your participating farmers to set up training. If you've scheduled training to occur after May 31, please contact the State office.

We will keep you updated on FMNP benefit orders and new processes.

Similac Sensitive for Spit-Up Update

Abbott Nutrition informed us that the Similac Sensitive for Spit-Up powdered is still not available and will not be for an unspecified time. The RTF version has also been difficult to locate in some areas. If you have participants receiving Similac Sensitive for Spit-Up and can not locate adequate supplies of the RTF, please notify Chris by e-mail with the number of participants you currently have on this formula BY THE END OF MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2011. Chris will be ordering on Tuesday morning.

Family & Communitty Health Conference

Click here for a copy of the WIC Day Presentation.

SPIRIT Online Training slides can be found here.

For access to Cathy Breedon (Aunt Cathy) and other speaker materials, please go to www.fchb.mt.gov and scroll down to the 2011 Family and Community Health Conference link to FCHC Spring Conference.

Nutrition Education Materials Survey

If you did not turn in your survey at the FCH Conference, please mail it to the state or fax it to 406-444-0239. This survey will help determine the materials ordered in the future. Thanks!

Breast Pump Safety Notification

Medela released a safety notification about the power adapter for the WIC ‘N Style pump. Please go to http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/media-center/136/safety-notification-power-adaptors to read the notification. It is important to note that this is not a recall.

Montana Public Health Association

The Montana Public Health Association website can be found at mtpha.com. This site is the home for the MAWA webpage as well as information on how to join MPHA.

Two Webinars for Dietitians

The first webinar is on neonatal enteral nutrition.

The second webinar is on pediatric food allergies.

Both may be of interest to the Registered Dietitians who would be seeing these participants in WIC and for approving their formula requests. For more information on the neonatal webinar, please click here and for the pediatric food allergy webinar, please click here.

Help us keep the distribution list updated - send changes, additions and deletions to the WIC State Office Administrative Assistant, Lynn VanAken at LVanAken@mt.gov.

Questions or comments - call 1-800-433-4298 option 2.
A copy of all newsletters can be found on the WIC website - go to http://wic.mt.gov

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