MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Health Department’s (MCHD) Morgantown Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) office is a few days away from moving to a new location.
The now-former Elmer Prince Drive headquarters of the MCHD Morgantown WIC department officially closed its doors on Tuesday ahead of the opening of the new offices located at White Birch Tower II on Pineview Drive on February 3rd. WIC Program Manager for the MCHD, Cami Haught, and her staff are all hands on deck in the coming days as they prepare to transition over to the new offices while maintaining correspondence with the numerous Monongalia County residents that take advantage of the WIC healthcare program.
“We plan to be opened and seeing clients on February 3rd, so it’s a pretty quick turnaround, and it has been a busy week (moving things over),” said Haught in the days ahead of the formal move.
The new Pineview Drive offices for the MCHD will include a single floor that will host both modernized office space and facilities that can support the daily healthcare services the WIC office provides. This includes space to support health monitoring of mothers and children up to the age of five years old as well as childcare education counseling that ranges from breastfeeding information for mothers of newborns to nutritional education. Moving from a two-story office that was located on Elmer Prince Drive, Haught and other employees at the Morgantown WIC office are excited to take advantage of the space that will offer direct access to their clients regardless of need.
“These had beautiful office spaces available, and it was a nice shot down a hallway, that way for clinic, we can navigate the people through a little more easier,” said Haught on WAJR’s Talk of the Town. “And we’re all going to be on one floor, so it’s going to be a better setup,” she said.
Not only will the new MCHD Morgantown WIC Office be able to provide day-to-day services for women and children who might be in need, but space will also be available to continue supporting the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. This will include the relocation of modernized kitchen equipment that was installed at the old WIC office in 2020, such as a stove and refrigerator. While cabinet space is expected to be reduced due to the success of the digital expansion for the WIC Food Package Program (EBT card issuances), services such as nutrition education classes will still be provided at the new Pineview Drive location.
“We are able to do food demonstrations and show families how to use the food that they’re getting at the grocery store,” said Mon County Health Department Nutritionist Supervisor Jason Nguyen, who is helping in the relocation. “So we’ll do some education at the (new) office,” he said.
Haught added that communications with the MCHD WIC office and participants of the program will be maintained for the near week-long transition to the new Pineview Drive headquarters for the Morgantown location. Those in need of WIC-related services will be directed to similar offices in Marion and Harrison counties that will aim to address whatever needs are present within 24 hours or less. With plans to highlight the new Morgantown WIC office when it opens in February, employees with the MCHD WIC office are ready to move into their new digs.
“If you pull into the White Birch Tower parking area, you’re going to drive all the way to the back of that second tower,” said Haught on where the new Morgantown WIC office will be seen on Pineview Drive. “And you’re going to see a ramp, and you’re going to also see a lot of WIC signage (when you arrive),” she said.
The Monongalia County Health Department WIC program is supported with the help of federal funds.