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SALEM -- Salem residents receiving benefits through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) will soon be able to have their benefit cards refilled at the health department.
During the health board meeting Wednesday, Health Commissioner Chelsea Clark announced that WIC had confirmed it would begin offering a refill date in Salem once per month beginning in November. Clark said that the first refill date would be on Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and that in the future it may shift to offering benefit card refills at the department twice per month. Clark also said that while initially they would only be refilling benefit cards for existing recipients, that if enough people utilize the service, WIC may expand which services it offers through the department.
"We're going to start by just doing the card refills. So, anyone that isn't signed up already with WIC can't come here [to register] as of now, it's just going to be the refill once a month to start…The more people that attend this and come to Salem, the more they'll be able to provide services here," Clark said. "It'll start out once a month, potentially twice a month if we get enough people, and then potentially they'll be able to initiate services here. It's all dependent on how many people come."
The board also discussed its vaccine supply. Public Health Nurse Jodi Snyder said the number of vaccines the department receives from its supplier VaxCare, which are eligible to be administered to people with insurance, had decreased significantly. Consequently, the department often must turn prospective patients seeking immunizations away or are only able to administer a portion of the vaccinations that are requested.
"We have to turn a lot of people away because they have insurance, because we can't give private stock to insured people…We're having issues when people call in wanting three vaccines and we have to tell them we can do one but not the other two because you have insurance," Snyder said.
Health Board President Pro-Tempore Judy Sicilia asked Snyder what her perception of patient's vaccine acceptance was, and Snyder said that those who come in seeking vaccinations are typically "very eager and enthusiastic" to receive vaccinations.
Sicilia also asked if there had been any indication where Vaxcare's seeming reluctance to increase the departments allotment of vaccines was coming from. Clark said that she was unsure if it was a matter of the expense of supplies or shipping or simply a logistical issue, but that she would attempt to schedule a meeting to discuss the matter in more detail.
Sicilia asked Snyder to compile a list of potential vaccinations which the department could have administered but had been forced to decline due to the restrictions ahead of the meeting.
"That way if we talk to these people, we can have some facts, some statistics to show them. We can say 'we would have ordered this many, and we turned these people away,' and they would have paid for that," Sicilia said.
Following an approximately 45-minute executive session for the discussion of personnel matters, the board also voted to adopt a temporary staffing plan. Under the plan, Snyder will work for the department remotely as needed and as able for the department with time documentation during an upcoming six-week leave of absence.
The board of health will meet next at 2 p.m. on Sept. 16.