The Houston Health Department is expanding one of its 14 clinics in Houston for the Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program.

What's happening?

Houston City Council approved the health department's request to amend its lease on Bissonnet Street for 3,880 square feet of office space located next door to the WIC clinic Aug. 28. HHD currently operates out of 2,562 square feet.

Zahra Koopaei, bureau chief for the WIC program at the Houston Health Department, said the new space will allow the clinic to expand and provide a more comfortable space for patients.

The new lease will allow the department to create a:
  • New waiting area for patients
  • Larger classroom for breastfeeding women to use in privacy
  • Designated front desk area for check-ins
The new space is anticipated to open by the end of 2024 or early 2025. Koopaei said the clinic will continue to operate as normal during the construction period.


Notable quote

Koopaei said the Bissonnet clinic has needed to add space since 2020.

"When we moved to that site in 2020, our case load was about 3,600 and with COVID, we were doing a lot of that work remotely or car side," she said. "Our clients weren't coming into the office so our waiting room was sufficient at that time, but we've outgrown where we are now with almost 6,000 cases. That's how many clients we are serving and we just keep growing."

In case you didn't know


WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the program helps to provide supplemental foods, health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, as well as infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk.

WIC celebrated 50 years of service in August.