Hickman Mills has lost a city-sponsored nutrition clinic for women, infants and children.
The Kansas City, Mo., Health Department said on Wednesday that it had closed the clinic at the Freda Markley Early Childhood Center, which is part of the Hickman Mills school district.
The clinic offered services under Missouri’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant and Children, or WIC.
The Hickman Mills WIC clinic provided healthy food vouchers, nutritional information and medical referrals to 25 women, according to the health department.
Similar WIC services are offered by two nearby providers, Crescent Clinic WIC in Raytown and Truman Medical Center’s Grandview WIC clinic.
Ruth Terrell, a spokeswoman for the Hickman Mills District, said the space used by the WIC clinic was needed for the district’s new pre-kindergarten program.
Terrell said the district offered other space for the clinic, but the health department said it wasn’t large enough.
The health department said it will transfer Hickman Mills WIC funding and its staff to its two other Kansas City, Mo. locations at 2400 Troost and Boone Elementary School, 8817 Wornall Road.
To be eligible for WIC services, enrollees need to live in households with incomes at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty line. Services are offered to women who are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding and to children under the age of five.
Health department spokesperson Jeff Hershberger said all 25 women served by the clinic were being contacted individually and informed of the closing and alternate WIC options.
