Irving based WIC office honored by ECI with mural unveiling

by Minnie Payne

IRVING — Because state supported Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), partner with local Special Care and Career Services, has collaborated with Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a federal nutrition program, for the last ten years, ECI unveiled a mural honoring WIC at their Irving office on July 15.

“We want to thank the WIC staff for their kindness, support, and collaboration in finding families who need our services in this incredibly busy time,” said Marnie Stone, ECI Program Director for Special Care and Career Services. “We are very pleased that many city, WIC and ECI representatives took time to celebrate with us.”

Cindy Wachtler, nutrition education coordinator for the Dallas WIC office, reports that the North Irving WIC clinic served 4,144 at-risk women, infants and children in May 2008.

“The benefits include supplemental foods, nutrition education and referrals to important and needed services such as ECI,” Wachtler said. “It’s a 4 percent increase in persons served in our office since last May.”

WIC is a Women, Infants, and Children federal nutrition program, which provides nutrition and health education, healthy food and other services free of charge to Texas families who qualify.

ECI is a state-wide program that provides home or community-based services for Texas families who have children, birth to age three, with disabilities or delays in developments. This includes children with autism, cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, Down syndrome and many other conditions. Services are individualized and may include: family education and support, developmental services, physical, occupational, or speech therapy, nutrition, audiology, vision, psychological and social work services. All eligible children receive services. There are no waiting lists.

ECI works with local WIC staff to identify qualifying families, give information to families about ECI services and community resources and to support one another. For the past 10 years, the ECI program of Special Care and Career Services has been working with WIC staff in their local offices to talk with families about ECI services and development.

Special Care and Career Services is celebrating 46 years in its mission to help people with developmental disabilities in Denton, Collin and Dallas counties achieve independence with the maximum ability to be self-sufficient in our community. The agency does this through two age-specific programs: ECI and Supported Employment Services (SES).

The ECI program is a state-wide program that helps babies zero to three years old with developmental delays reach their maximum potential to be successful in school. This program is recognized as a best practices study site by the state of Texas and provides therapies and services delivered by speech, physical and occupational therapists, dieticians, social workers and other specialists.

Through the SES program, adults with mental retardation, traumatic brain injury and other cognitive disabilities participate in comprehensive employment services to obtain and keep jobs in the local community.

“We’re hopeful that by having this celebration and unveiling of this beautiful mural, we will become better known to the community so that other families who need us will come forward,” said Marnie Stone. “The mural is an affirmation of the commitment that ECI and WIC have of providing quality services to the families of Dallas County.

“It’s [mural] very representative of children and the hope that children represent for our future.”