Helping more people than ever

In this Nov. 12, 2014 file photo, Melinda Ridenhour, director of nutrition services for the Cole County Health Department, unveiled life-sized photographs of mothers breastfeeding their baby during a press conference in Jefferson City.
In this Nov. 12, 2014 file photo, Melinda Ridenhour, director of nutrition services for the Cole County Health Department, unveiled life-sized photographs of mothers breastfeeding their baby during a press conference in Jefferson City.

After a few months in the Cole County Health Department's new office on West Truman Boulevard, 20-year department veteran Melinda Ridenhour believes they can help more people than ever.

Ridenhour is director of nutrition service and manages the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which works to help families stay healthy by providing supplemental food and nutrition.

"In our new building, families have more privacy and space and remain in one location while staff comes to them during their WIC appointment," Ridenhour said. "This makes the WIC visit less stressful for them, and we work to provide a non-judgmental environment. Everyone's trying to be the best parent they can be, and no one is perfect. We do whatever we can to support and encourage our families."

The county's WIC program serves about 1,500 families a month, striving to help women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or formula feeding, Ridenhour said. They also serve children until they turn 5. It's the biggest program in the department offices.

"People are probably most familiar with the healthy foods program that allows families to get checks to take to grocery stores," she said. "We also provide breast pumps for mothers who may be ill so they continue to feed their babies."

Although the qualifications are based on income, WIC is not a welfare program, Ridenhour said.

"We are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, so many people qualify who don't think they would," she said. "It's 185 percent above the poverty level, so a lot of families qualify who wouldn't qualify for Medicaid or something like that.

"I also think people think we are just a program for women, but there's a lot of single-father households, a generation of grandparents and foster parents taking in more kids, and many are on fixed incomes. Many of those folks could bring in their children under 5 and we could help them."

Ridenhour said one of the program's goals for 2019 is to partner with St. Luke's Milk Bank in Kansas City to open a milk depot for women in the community and surrounding areas to donate breastmilk. St. Luke's Milk Bank processes donated milk for sick babies in hospital neonatal intensive care units.

For more information about WIC, call the Cole County Health Department at 573-636-2181.