VISTA - About a dozen people got a close look at the Vista Community Clinic on Tuesday during a tour that was arranged as part of National Health Center week.

The clinic invited legislators, medical professionals and community partners to take part in the event and most of those who attended were in the health care business.

Araceli Castro, who works for the San Diego-based Council of Community Clinics, said she was happy to see how the local clinic operates.

"It's kind of nice to come and see what they do, what they offer," she said.

The Council of Community Clinics, a nonprofit group that supports San Diego County community health care centers, organized the tours countywide in conjunction with National Health Care Week, which runs from Aug. 6 to 12.

Barbara Mannino, executive director of the Vista clinic, said it frequently offers tours when requested in order to raise community awareness of the clinic's important function as a medical "safety net."

"We hope that people will learn that we have a very important place in keeping the community healthy and people healthy in San Diego County," she said.

The tours also give employees at the clinic a chance to break stereotypes about their quality of service and clients, said Sandra Fichter, clinic community resource director.

"We definitely service a certain population," she said, "but we have programs for everybody -- A through Z."

The clinic has participated in National Health Center Week in the past, usually focusing on its patients. This is the first year they have invited interested community members for a special tour.

The turnout was larger than the clinic was expecting, Fichter said. By breaking the dozen participants into three groups, they were able to give more one-on-one tours.

Vista Community Clinic was started in 1972 and now boasts five offices in Vista and Oceanside that served roughly 46,000 patents last year.

"It has grown phenomenally," Mannino said. "It has turned out to be almost like that field of dreams -- if you build it, they will come -- because the demand is so huge."

Tuesday's tour gave visitors a look at the clinic's main office on Vale Terrace Drive in central Vista. The office opened in 1997 and was recently remodeled with more exam rooms.

For Larry Ward, a consultant with Palomar Pomerado Health System, it was his first time touring the facility. He said the thing that will stick with him was the expressions on the faces of some of the younger clients.

"What I enjoyed the most was the faces of all the children -- very cute," he said.

- Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt (760) 631-6622 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.