East Boston WIC Welcomes New Director
Welcome Gadyflor St. Clair, previously director of the Mayor’s Health Line of the Boston Public Health Commission. Raised in Venezuela by parents from Haiti, Gadyflor has lived in the Boston area for 16 years. She is a graduate of Boston College and holds master’s degrees in public administration and criminal justice from Suffolk University. Her outreach work around chronic disease prevention and control, environmental health, healthy homes, and access to care and other public health initiatives has prepared her perfectly to join the collaborative team at the WIC program and EBNHC.
Gadyflor’s best preparation for the job of WIC director, however, may be mothering her 3-year-old daughter Gabrielle and 10-month-old son Eli. After the birth of her daughter, Gadyflor made the decision to temporarily devote herself fulltime to raising her young children. “I left my job when my daughter was born,” she says. “It was a hard decision, but I could not have it any other way. I wanted to be there to experience them.” When Gadyflor felt ready to return to work, any job she would consider had to be “meaningful and worthwhile.” Serving over 4,000 mothers and children around public health issues of healthy eating, hunger, and access to care was “immediately compelling.”
Three months into the job, Gadyflor is busy learning the operations and systems of the program and getting to know the 11 WIC staff members. “Our staff has been with the center for an average of 10 to 15 years and are still so committed, so pleasant, and so open to new ideas. I feel very lucky to be working with this very experienced team. My hope is to continue to provide an environment of opportunities for growth based on their knowledge and commitment.”
Reaching out beyond the doors of the program and into the East Boston community is Gadyflor’s passion. She would like the community to understand all the services that the WIC program provides. “We are far more than a place to pick up a check,” she says. “I want the East Boston WIC program to be a staple in this community for assistance with nutrition and other resources.” She would like to invite participants to stop by for a wide range of services, including cooking demonstrations, culturally appropriate nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and other creative events. Gadyflor would also like WIC to care for “the whole individual” by instituting a comprehensive system of referrals to connect participants to other agencies and resources. “We can always do more to address the issues of hunger and access to care.”
Since 1974, the federal WIC program has helped combat childhood hunger, low birth weight, under-nutrition, and iron-deficiency anemia. WIC also promotes successful, long-term breastfeeding, because breastfeeding is considered to be the best way to provide nutrition to infants. Nearly 40% of all babies born in the commonwealth access WIC services at some point in their infancy as their families seek to learn more about nutrition and preventing obesity and other diseases by providing a wide variety of healthy, affordable, and family-friendly food choices.
For more information, contact the East Boston WIC Center at 120 Liverpool Street, 617-568-6400.
