BARBARA MANNINO HARRIS
1950-2023
REGULAR DIVISION 2024
In January 1983, Barbara Mannino climbed the rickety stairs to the second floor of a church and opened the torn and ragged screen door leading to her new office. She had just been hired as the CEO of Vista Community Clinic, and 30 employees were waiting to see what plans she had for them and the patients they had served for eleven years. They were in for the ride of a lifetime, for this young woman barely into her 30s - was determined to do whatever was needed to ensure the good health of ALL North County residents, not just those who had medical insurance or who could pay out-of-pocket.
One look at Barbara - always impeccably dressed, never a hair out of place - and it was obvious that "rickety" and "ragged" would never again be used to describe Vista Community Clinic. In 1986, a mere three years later, the clinic moved into a beautiful new facility on Vale Terrace Drive, built from the ground up with a federal Community Development Block Grant. It was one of the first community clinics in San Diego County known at the time as "the designer clinic" to have a facility specifically built for healthcare. Most community clinics of the time operated out of houses, churches or other buildings originally constructed for other uses.
"Better working conditions were what our doctors and nurses deserved, but more importantly, it was something our patients deserved," she said of her dogged determination to get the Vale Terrace Branch built so quickly. "Just because you are poor doesn't mean you should not be treated with dignity."
VCC's mission is simply stated: To provide quality healthcare and health education to the community, focusing on those facing economic, social or cultural barriers. But from the start, Barbara had a deeper understanding that a lot of people miss - it's vital to the entire community that everyone be as healthy as possible. When the guy who makes the burgers at the local fast-food restaurant starts coughing, it doesn't take long at all for whatever is ailing him to spread. He'll be more likely to get the care that will keep his disease from becoming an epidemic if he is at ease in the medical environment. Barbara understood the whole picture, rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
And the whole picture meant ensuring that people within our community embraced health in the full sense of the word. That led to the establishment of the Health Promotion Center, a department of Vista Community Clinic dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles to reduce the incidence of chronic diseases. Under Barbara's leadership, talented staff developed and expanded innovative health promotion and health education models which have been replicated nationally. Understanding that one cannot attain and maintain optimum health if one lives in substandard conditions, Barbara and her staff embraced a holistic approach to health, ensuring patients and clients had access to transportation, shelter, and career development opportunities through the initiation of many social service programs.
During the. next 30 years, Barbara Mannino Harris made sure that North County's growing population had growing clinical services. In 1988, VCC added a second location on Thunder Road near Tri-City Medical Center and began providing medical care to San Diego County's indigent patients with life-threateatening and debilitating illnesses. In the 1990s, the clinic established the Tri-City maternal Care Program and opened a Women's Center which has provided prenatal care and obsetetrical delivery to thousands of women over the last 30 years.
As one of the largest teen-serving organizations in San Diego County, Barbara and her staff established Choices, the Teen Clinic for teens run by teens. In 1995, with prompting from community leaders, Barbara established the Vista Community Clinic Horne Street facility in Oceanside. By 2000, the Pier View Way facility was added to meet the increasing demand for quality, affordable health care in Oceanside.
Oceanside's North River Road facility opened shortly thereaafter. Expansion in Vista continued with the construction of a 30,000 square-foot state-of-the art Vale Terrace clinic. Innovative health programs continued to develop. VCC partnered with Tri-City Medical Center in the Emergency Department Care Continuum project, which referred uninsured emergency room patients to VCC for their follow-up care and a continuing primary care home. VCC receives over 1,000 referrals monthly from TCMC's emergency department.
By the turn of the century, Barbara's "baby" was no longer tiny. The little church location was now replaced with five medical facilities. In 2002, VCC was one of the first clinics in the nation funded under President George Bush's Community Health Center Act of 2000, and Barbara established VCC's first dental clinic, which has since quadrupled in size. And, through a successful capital campaign, Barbara replaced the leased Thunder Road branch with the custom-built Grapvine site in 2009, doubling the size and the medical services.
In 2010, VCC was one of the first community health centers in the nation to fully implement electronic medical records and electronic dental records. And to start her final years as CEO, Barbara obtained a $11.4 million federal stimulus grant, one of only 79 granted in the nation, which culminated in the opening of the 31,000 square foot Joan and Ron Moss Women's Center, a serene and stylish place where women can feel comfortable receiving prenatal care and cancer screening exams. Within five years, under Barbara's leadership, Vista Community Clinic doubled its square footage and its services to the community.
As the clinic grew, so did the accolades. Barbara was honored with the Woman of Distinction Award from Soroptimist International of Oceanside-Carlsbad, the Kaiser Permanente K-Star Award, the North County Times Woman of Merit awrd, and the Most Admired CEO and Women Who Mean Busineiss recognition for the San Diego Business Journal. VCC received a multitude of awards, among which was being recognized nationally as a Model that Works by the Bureau of Primary Health Care for its Fund for Moms; receiving a Rising Star by the Alliance Health care Foundation; receiving the first Award for Organizational Excellence by the Callaway Golf Company Foundation; and was made CEO Emeritus of VCC when she retired.
Some of Barbara's other activities included coaching leaders for other nonprofit organizations for 20 years through the Fieldstone Foundation. She made sure she continued to give back to the region she loved by servig on the California State University San Marcos President's Council for elven years and was the inaugural recipient of the CSUSM Presidential Medal of Honor. Last, but certainly not least, she volunteered for more than twelve years for the San Diego Humane Society caring for and placing hundreds of homeless dogs, loving every one of them.
In the Fall of 2023, the Vista Community Clinic's main facility on Vale Terrace Drive in Vista was renamed the Vista Community Clinic Barbara Mannino Harris Primary Care Center, to recognize and honor all that Barbara has done to provide outstanding service for all who deserve hothing but the best in health care.
Barbara Mannino Harris was a force to be reckoned with when she was championing rights for others. She left a legacy of diligence, dedication, devotion and love to those in need, as well as all her family and friends.