Orange County NC Website
2 <br />the breastteeding capacity, the Back-up recruits, enrolls and provides basic nutrition education <br />information from the EFNEP curriculum to limited resources families with young children, <br />The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) targets families with young <br />children and pregnant teens to insure that healthy meals are being prepared, EFNEP <br />employees work with these families for a minimum of six (6) teaching visits in their homes or in <br />a small group setting. <br />Interagency cooperation is a vital part of the success of the program, Cooperative Extension <br />provides supervision for the program and coordinates the coalition, UNC Hospitals works with <br />the program assistants who visit the hospital to recruit new mothers for the breastfeeding <br />program. Mary Rose Tully, Director of Lactation Services at UNC Hospitals, who helped <br />develop the statewide IHBSP program, works with her staff to provide continuous training for <br />program assistants, UNC Hospitals provide the lactation consultant who is readily accessible to <br />the program assistants for complex breasffeeding situations, and can help new moms have <br />quick access to the health care system when medical complications arise, (UNC Hospitals <br />credit one of the program assistants with recognizing a problem with an infant, coordinating with <br />the hospital to get immediate care, and therefore saving the life of the infant), The Orange <br />County Health Department and Piedmont Health Services, through the WIC (Women, Infant <br />and Children) program, provide referrals to the program, and help coordinate educational <br />sessions. <br />The Breastteeding program services, as well as the EFNEP program, are unique and do not <br />duplicate those provided by any other program. This program reaches under-served <br />populations in their communities and in their homes. <br />BOCC Took Action in December: When Cooperative Extension learned in early December <br />that the four Nutrition Program Assistants positions responsible for program implementation <br />would be terminated on December 31, 2003 due the withdrawal of Federal funding, a request <br />was made and approved by the BOCC to provide $27,000 to extend the EFNEP personnel and <br />activities for two months from January 1, 2004 through February 29, 2004, This time extension <br />allowed County staff time tc continue and evaluate program options and better identify funding <br />alternatives for the BOCC to consider for the longer term, Because of the design of the <br />program and the need to serve both English and Spanish-speaking clients, Cooperative <br />Extension determined that all four (4) positions are critical (two of the program assistants are <br />bilingual and over half of the clients served speak Spanish,) <br />Since December, the Cooperative Extension staff has contacted Cooperative Extension's <br />Family and Consumer Science Department at the State level to keep up-to-date on the <br />negotiations concerning the resubmission of the grant proposal to the regional office of Food <br />Stamp Nutriticn (FSN) in Atlanta, GA for the Breastfeeding Support Program. The State has <br />informed the County that the program is not dead, but there is no definitive decision at this time, <br />Due to the complexity of the process, the State also cannot give the County a time frame for <br />that final decision, <br />Contact has been made with Piedmont Health Services to determine if State WIC funds could <br />be used to support part of the program. Staff is still exploring that option. <br />Cooperative Extension has also met with UNC Hospitals staff and they have pledged their <br />continued support of staff that will provide professional lactation support services, as well as <br />