Frontline Perspectives: WIC Clinic Emergency Preparedness Following Hurricane Helene

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) targets nutrition and health behaviors of high-risk populations. WIC is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and provides services in 4 areas: nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, healthy food access, and healthcare and social services referrals.

To better understand services provided and populations served during Hurricane Helene and document personal and organizational preparedness, data were collected via an online survey. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize respondents. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for associations between self-assessed preparedness and need for additional training.

Of 95 WIC contacts, 29 responded (30.5%). Of four key WIC services, breastfeeding support was most frequently disrupted (43.5%; n = 10), followed by health care and social service referrals (39.1%; N = 9). Respondents characterized rural residents (47.8%; n = 11) and new clients seeking services (39.1%; n = 9) as most impacted. Respondents with confidence in their organization's ability to respond to a disaster or in their personal knowledge of disaster preparedness were less likely to want additional training. Qualitative responses described challenges providing services to evacuated clients, food security, and internet outages.

Disaster research has identified "gendered disaster vulnerability" as a challenge in emergency preparedness and response. Women and children often face intersectional risks from poverty, social marginalization, and disability in disasters. As such, the WIC workforce should be considered first responders and have access to emergency preparedness planning and training resources at the organizational and individual level.