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Well Child Center

Growing Health Families

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Well Child Center

We’re Hiring: Join the WCC Team!

Are you looking for a career that changes lives? Do you have a desire to make an impact on your community? Well Child Center is hiring a WIC Nutritionist!

This position is ideal for those who enjoy nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding promotion, and empowering families through community nutrition.

Previous WIC experience is a plus, but not required. This is a full-time position. A resume and brief cover note should be sent to mesquivel@wellchildcenter.org. Click here, to view the job description and to learn more about the position.

Well Child Center Announces New Executive Director

WELL CHILD CENTER OF ELGIN NAMES MICHELLE ESQUIVEL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SAYS FAREWELL TO TRISHA ROTH AFTER 34 YEARS

ELGIN, IL (August 17, 2021) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Board of Directors for the Well Child Center of Elgin announced Michelle Zajac Esquivel has been named Executive Director for this nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children and families through education, counseling, and services in the areas of childhood nutrition and pediatric dental health.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the Well Child Center. The Center is a critical resource for our community, and I look forward to building on that momentum and being a part of the effort to make a positive difference for families and children,” Esquivel stated.

The Board also announced the retirement of Trisha Roth, after providing 34 years of expert leadership for the Well Child Center. “Trish brought the organization through periods of rapid growth with an increasing need for services in the community. All of us at the Well Child Center are saying a fond farewell to Trish for her decades of service,” Mark Ainley, President, Well Child Center Board of Directors said.

Esquivel, a resident of Elgin, previously was Assistant Project Director for the Illinois Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood home visiting program in the Illinois Department of Human Services. She has also served as Executive Director for Educare-West DuPage, a state-of-the-art early childhood school serving under-resourced children and families. As part of her 35-year career, she served as Director of the Division of Children with Special Needs and Principal Investigator and Director of the National Center on Medical Home Implementation in the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We are excited about the energy and vision for Well Child Center that Michelle brings, as well as her support of our holistic approach to serving children and families. Her background in public health and nonprofit leadership will be incredibly valuable to the organization,” said Ainley.

WIC Updates Program to EBT Card

New to WIC! Well Child Center and IL WIC has transitioned to the EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card. No more paper vouchers! WIC participants will now receive benefits on an eWIC card, which is similar to a debit card.  

After attending a WIC appointment or completing a WIC class, food benefits are added onto the eWIC card. The family’s WIC food benefits will last until the next WIC visit. To complete transactions, participants will need to enter the PIN that they have created. 

There are many ways to find your WIC Food Balance: 

  • Look at your store receipt from your last shopping trip.  
  • Ask a cashier or customer service person at the store to print your WIC Food Balance.  
  • Call the toll-free number on the back of your WIC card, 1-844-4MY-FAMILY or 1-844-469-3264. 

Well Child Center hopes that participants will find the new eWIC card easier to use at grocery stores. We ask that WIC clients please be patient during this transition! 

Pediatric Dental Clinic Reopens!

Well Child Center Pediatric Dental

For our Pediatric Dental Clinic patients,

We are excited to announce that we are now open for appointments. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

  • Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office. Temperatures will be taken upon entrance to our clinic.
  • We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.
  • You may choose to wait in your car. Our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
  • Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
  • We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at 847-930-6721  

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Well Child Center’s Response to COVID-19

Well Child Center considers the health, safety and well-being of you and your family – our WIC clients and young dental patients – to be our highest priority.

Father kissing small child

We want to assure you and our community neighbors that Well Child Center (WCC) is taking extra precautions to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in our community. While we are open during regular business hours during this Coronavirus outbreak, we are also screening all clients using a survey recommended by the Kane County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to keep our clients and community safe.

For our WIC families, the following exceptions for in-person appointments may be available during this Coronavirus outbreak:

  1. You and your child(ren) may not be required to meet in-person temporarily to maintain services.
  2. Nutrition Education will be completed via phone or internet. All WIC/Advocate Sherman classes are canceled until further notice.
  3. Food Instruments may be provided via curbside pick-up or in extreme cases via US certified mail.

Please call your family’s WIC office for additional information about these temporary exceptions and to ensure your family’s services continue without disruption.

For our Pediatric Dental Clinic patients, we have and always will protect our young patients and dental team from infections and diseases by strict adherence to CDC’s standard precautions.
*** NOTE: Dental Clinic reopens June 16, 2020***

For our breastfeeding clients, this is an important reminder based on CDC guidelines:

  • Breast milk provides protection against many illnesses. WIC and the CDC recommends that any mother with the flu continue breastfeeding or feeding expressed (pumped) breast milk to your infant while taking precautions to avoid spreading the virus to your infant.
  • For mothers with flu symptoms and well enough to breastfeed, please wear a mask when near your child (including during feeding), wash your hands before and after contacting your child (including feeding), and clean/disinfect all contaminated surfaces afterwards – as should be done in every case where anyone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 interacts with others, including children.

For moms who are too ill to breastfeed, ideally you should try to express (pump) milk and feed it to your child with a clean bottle, cup and/or spoon.

Here’s how you can help prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses, including the Coronavirus Flu:

PLEASE CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IF YOU OR YOUR FAMILY HAVE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS:

  • Fever
  • Cough (especially a dry cough)
  • Shortness of Breath (if you have more than a little change in your breathing, please call 911)

If you are sick, to keep from spreading respiratory illness to others, you should:

  • Stay home when you are sick.
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

If you have a life-threatening emergency, please call 911.

For more information please visit: 

Well Child Center remains committed to providing high quality services our clients have come to trust for nearly 50 years. We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have at  (847) 741-7370.

*WCC will provide regular updates as new information becomes available.

March Food Demo: You’re Invited!

Making healthy choices at mealtime is not always easy, especially on a budget. The objective of a food demonstration is to improve and diversify family feeding practices. Live demonstrations help parents develop cooking skills and confidence to prepare nutritionally balanced meals at home. As nutrition educators, we know that families on a tight budget are less likely to try something new in the kitchen if they are required to spend money on unfamiliar foods and ingredients. Food demos are a great way to introduce new foods at no cost! Participants can see, smell and taste new recipes and discover firsthand that healthy foods can be delicious. Six in 10 adults who attend short, interactive sessions said they were willing to make a healthy change. https://community-nutrition-education.extension.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2018-Illinois-SNAPed-Impacts_spread.pdf It is our responsibility as educators to help our clientele understand what healthy eating is.

At Well Child Center (WCC) we have partnered with Activate Elgin, Advocate Sherman Hospital and U-46 to help our community better understand the importance of a healthy diet.

As part of National Nutrition Month, Well Child Center has partnered with Activate Elgin to promote their campaign: March Into Health. The WIC program’s Food Demonstration: Edible Kitchen on Thursday, March 26th at 5:45 p.m. is open to the public to attend.  A seasonal soup and salad demo will be presented by Linda Rusenovich, RD, LDN and WIC Nutritionist for participants to sample. Adults and children in the community are welcomed to come! Please RSVP to this event with Karen at 847-930-6716 by March 20th to attend.

Since 2016, Well Child Center and Advocate Sherman Hospital have worked collaboratively to offer Childbirth Education Classes. These classes are taught in 4-week sessions by certified instructors every month. Expectant mothers are provided with instruction and support to help navigate pregnancy through the postpartum period. In the final week of class, the instructor provides a cooking demonstration featuring nutrition education specific to mom and baby.

We are overjoyed to partner with U-46’s Parents as Teachers (PAT) program. The PAT program is designed to help parents of children from birth to age 3 to feel more confident in their role as their child’s first teacher. WCC’s WIC program is dedicated to helping parents feed their children properly during critical periods of growth. To help parents feel more confident in the kitchen, we have opened our WIC program’s Food Demonstration: Edible Kitchen to PAT parents in April.

WCC has one primary goal – to create and maintain broad-based community partnerships to help all families and children thrive. This goal remains the core vision of our organization and we will continue to carry out our mission to Growth Healthy Families.