WIC advocates spread the word
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The fear and misinformation that keep immigrants from applying for free nutrition and prenatal help hit home for Shawni Mendoza six months ago when a handful of Hispanic clients on Maui suddenly quit the supplemental nutrition program known as Women, Infants and Children.
They were told by their attorneys — incorrectly — that getting free nutritional help from WIC could jeopardize their immigration status and prevent them from bringing family members to America.
"They thought they wouldn't be allowed to apply for citizenship if they were on WIC," said Mendoza, the WIC coordinator for the Community Clinic of Maui in Kahului. "That's wrong."
Pat Katepoo has heard about such incorrect information for years.
"It's a chronic problem in general and that's just a good example of what surfaces," said Katepoo, a public health nutritionist who helped coordinate efforts to reach more WIC participants.
So state health officials are translating information about the WIC program into five languages — Spanish, Vietnamese, Marshallese, Chinese and Ilocano. The translated brochures emphasize that enrolling in WIC will not jeopardize the clients' immigration status or hurt their chances of bringing family to Hawai'i.
New wording in the translated brochures tries to erase all doubt.
"Immigrants and naturalized citizens are encouraged to apply," the brochures will read. "Applying or receiving WIC benefits does not put a person at risk for losing their naturalization."
The translated brochures will cost $1,800 and are expected to be finished by early March. Perhaps just as importantly, health officials are trying to figure out the best way to distribute them.
"We have to take a grass-roots approach," Katepoo said. "They're not going to be reached by radio. They're not going to be reached at the clinics because they're not even going to the clinics yet. ... We have to identify the key community people who know everyone, the key information brokers for each community."
The new approach by health officials highlights a long-standing problem for the WIC program here and on the Mainland in trying to enroll immigrants.
"Yes, of course," said Anna Liza Merino, a 29-year-old WIC participant when asked if she worried about harming her immigration status.
Merino arrived in Hawai'i from the Philippines in November 2000 and is now seven months pregnant. She speaks in nearly a whisper but made it clear that many immigrants need WIC's help but worry about the implications.
WIC is known officially as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. It is aimed at low-income, high-risk women and children. Through instruction and money for nutritious food, WIC's goal is to help pregnant women, new mothers and children by lessening the prospect of low birth weights, preventing anemia and improving childhood nutrition, among other goals.
The federal WIC program has 18 offices throughout the Islands, administered by state health officials. They serve 33,000 women and children each month. Seventy-three percent are Asian/Pacific; 17 percent Caucasian; 5 percent black and 4 percent Hispanic.
Mendoza's last experience in dealing with wrong information involved Hispanic clients, but she knows that other immigrants share the same fears.
"I'm hoping that if the word gets out, people will make educated decisions," she said. "I just feel bad that people feel like they can't be on our program when in fact they're already eligible."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
