On March 24, the Vista Community Clinic will hold a 40th Anniversary gala of “Health & Hope” to celebrate the opening of the 31,000-square-foot Joan and Ron Moss Women’s Center and 40 years of health services as a North County safety net for uninsured people who seek medical care due to economic, social or cultural barriers. The new facility doubles the size of the Vale Terrace branch and boosts capacity for patient visits to 270,000 a year in the network of five clinic locations throughout Vista and Oceanside. One in four Vista residents and one in eight in Oceanside residents receive care at Vista Community Clinic. In 2011, more than 57,000 people were served by Vista Community Clinic.

“We are proud of the high-quality, cost-effective medical care we have been able to provide to so many people who would otherwise not have a medical home where they can access basic prevention screenings and acute medical care when they need it,” said CEO Barbara Mannino, who has directed the private, non-profit Vista Community Clinic since 1983. “It also gives me great pleasure to recognize people like the Moss’s who have supported us and remained loyal to our mission for more than two decades.”

Mannino explained that the Clinic started in 1972 with very humble roots. Eight dedicated volunteers saw patients in donated space at the Vista dog pound and pharmaceutical reps offered samples for patient medications. The new Wo-men’s Center, named for North County donors Joan and Ron Moss, culminates a $21 million expansion project that was two years in the making and partially funded by an $11.4 million federal grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services through a competitive review process made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The new facility adds 24 exam rooms and will support medical care and educational outreach programs for up to 70,000 patients who use the Clinic.

Women’s health care services at the Center include prenatal and obstetrical services, family planning, screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer, referrals for mammograms and other specialty services and links to health education services such as coronary disease prevention, diabetes self-management, parenting education, prenatal education, childhood obesity, treatments for a wide variety of diseases, immunizations and dental care. At full staff, the Women’s Center will house eight physicians and nurse practitioners with specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as 70 health educators, community outreach workers, social workers and case managers.

The goal of the clinic expansion is to increase the capacity to serve low-income, uninsured or underinsured individuals in North County.