Policy Switch Keeps Needy Infants in Formula : Health: Public outcry over state cutbacks in federally funded nutrition program prompts reversal. Thousands of Orange County babies at risk of disease are affected.

Faced with a public outcry and increasing political pressure, state health officials on Friday reversed course and rescinded an order barring thousands of needy infants from a federally funded food nutrition program.

Local directors of the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Food Program (WIC) expressed relief at the decision but said they will hold off enrolling new infants into the program until June.

“We are not sure what the final recommendations are going to be, but at least we can explore the possibility of keeping some medically at-risk infants in the program,” said Orange County WIC coordinator Michelle van Eyken.

The state had imposed strict statewide cost-cutting measures in the WIC program in anticipation of a $14.5-million deficit. The victims were low-income, medically at-risk infants--newborns to a year old--who were nevertheless a lower priority for service in the WIC hierarchy.

State health officials estimated that about 180,000 infants statewide would be affected, including thousands in Orange County.

On May 1, the county began turning away hundreds of the infants who might otherwise have been eligible for the program, prompting an outcry among nutritionists who warned that the cutbacks could have a dramatic impact on the health of poor families.

But Norm Hartman, a spokesman for the Department of Health Services, which disperses federal funds for the program, said Friday that the agency will likely be able to avoid the shortfall by juggling resources and eliminating parts of the food package given to participants.

The WIC program provides nutrition education and counseling, referrals for primary health care and also a monthly food package, consisting of coupons worth about $65.

The coupons are for purchase of food items such as milk, infant formula, cheese, peanut butter, eggs, juices and low-sugar cereals.

Hartman said elimination of the cheese and juice coupons will save about $6 million. State nutritionists have indicated the reductions will not effect the overall nutritional value of the package.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds WIC, will provide the state with an additional $800,000 for the program, said Hartman. The balance of the shortfall will likely be reallocated from other currently funded Department of Health programs, he said.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R- Newport Beach) said Friday she was “delighted” with the decision to rescind the cutbacks.

“The fact that the program is going forward shows that a high priority is being placed upon the needs of mothers and young children,” she said. Bergeson is sponsoring a bill--introduced before the current funding crisis--that would supplement the WIC program with $4 million from the state. It is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee next week.

Local food providers also applauded the reversal, noting that most emergency food banks are ill-equipped to provide the special nutritional resources provided by the WIC program.

Thelma Minor, an assistant at the Southwest Minority Economic Development Assn., a Santa Ana food and clothing distribution center, said her agency had already begun to feel the effects of the cutbacks.

“We helped 24 people today and six of them said they were former WIC participants,” Minor said. “More and more people were asking for milk, eggs and other items that WIC provides. We’re really glad to see the state change its mind.”

State health officials cautioned, however, that elimination of the shortfall will not solve the long-term funding crunch and will leave the program vulnerable to further cutbacks.

Many counties, including Orange County, have had to bar children from ages 1 to 5 from enrolling in the program and those cutbacks will not be restored.

It is estimated that only about 24% of the Orange County women and children eligible for the program are actually served.

“There is clearly much more need in the state than what we can provide with the program funded as it is,” said state Health Director Kenneth Kizer.