April 12, 1961 ~ March 12, 2002
Resided in:
Manhattan Beach,, CA
Anne Barone, M.D., 40: Public Mental Health Psychiatrist
Dr. Anne Barone, Clinical District Chief and Psychiatrist with the Los Angeles County
Department of Mental Health died March 12 at her home in Manhattan Beach, California
after a yearlong battle with cancer.
Dr. Barone most recently headed up the Department's Clinical Quality of Care program
directed toward improved quality of service and access to care for the 181,000 clients
served in Los Angeles County. The County has one of the largest local mental health
systems in the country.
After graduating magna cum laude from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1985,
Dr. Barone received her Medical degree from Northwestern University School of
Medicine in Chicago in 1990. She then completed her psychiatric residency at Harbor-
UCLA Medical Center and was certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and
Neurology in January, 1996
Immediately upon completion of her training, she served as staff Psychiatrist and
Associate Medical Director at the Edmund Edelman Community Mental Health Center.
This was followed by two years of service in the private managed care mental health
sector as Associate Medical Director with PacifiCare Behavioral Health of Southern
California. She returned to the County mental health department in 1998 to take clinical
leadership in planning and implementing innovative programs to ensure quality mental
health services for Los Angeles County residents. Dr. Barone was known for her ability
to use her intelligence, dedication and compassion to inspire those around her to strive for the very best.
Dr. Barone was a member of the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry,
American Association of Community Psychiatry, American Psychiatric Association,
Southern California Psychiatric Society, and the American College of Physician
Executives.
Dr. Barone is survived by her husband, Dr. Ricardo Mendoza, her brother Christopher
and sister-in-law Penny Barone of Spokane, Washington, and, her father Salvatore
Barone of Santa Maria, California. A memorial service will be held at Verandas in
Manhattan Beach on Sunday, March 24, 2002 at 10AM. In lieu of flowers the family
requests donations be made to the Wellness Community, South Bay Chapter located at
109 W. Torrance Blvd., Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Guestbook
I would like to leave my condolences with the family. For those of you who didn\’t know me I was Anne\’s Assistant at work. I truly enjoyed working with and for her. I cannot tell you what a terrific lady she was; some of Anne\’s many great qualities that I liked about her was how down to earth she was, expressionable and how she always made me feel confortable. I could sit down and talk to Anne at any given moment on both a professional and personal level, I think this is what made her so special because you cannot have this sort of relationship with everyone least of all your supervisor. At times when working on a job it is good to have a supervisor who will not only make you feel confortable on a professiol level but a personal level as well. I have truly missed my friend and co-worker throughout her illness and miss her more so now, but she will never be forgotten. My prayers are with all of you. Sincerely, Tanya Criss
No loss that anyone else has experienced can be compared to the loss of your wife. I would like to offer my sincere condolences in your time of grief. May God through his son Jesus Christ lift your countenance and give you peace.
Dr Barone was one of the sweetest, caring and compasionate psychiatrist.. She also brought so much happiness to her husband in which everyone that knew her could easily observe. She was a loving person.
It has been an honor and a privilege to share my prayers with Ann and all her family. While I have never met her, the activity of Spirit through our prayer work together has been a blessing in my life. I will continue to pray for all of you, her family, so that the memories of Ann that you hold in your hearts will support you in the times ahead. May the loving Presence of God give you peace.
Dear Rick – Our hearts go out to you in this saddest of times. At the board meeting on Tuesday people were moved to take up a collection in Ann\’s memory, which I am forwarding to the Wellness Community. Our board has great affection for you. Some of my staff and I also had the opportunity to know and love Ann. Our hearts and affections are offered to you at this time. Peace my brother, Richard Van Horn, MHA Los Angeles
Dr. Barone was truly a special person. She was thoughtful, caring, unselfish, intelligent, and diligent. She was always willing to help. Because I had the privilege of knowing her skillful way with people during my brief time with her in a DMH outpatient clinic, I asked her several years later to help me with an employee in distress at DMH headquarters. On that day other available psychiatrists were out at meetings. I remember finding Dr. Barone at her desk. She didn\’t ask many questions about why I needed her to help me, but quickly left her desk to see what she could do. I was grateful I could count on Dr. Barone and to know she was there. This was just one of the many selfless things she did on a daily basis. She will be sorely missed. Please accept my deepest codolences and sympathy.
Rick, Please accept my sincere sympathy for the loss of Ann. In the too-brief time that I had known her, I was impressed with her enthusiasm and vision for the provision of quality care to our clients. She was a most helpful member of a committee that I chair. May her memory and the foundation for quality that she built, live on.
To Rick and the Barone Family-I don\’t know if Ann shared the episode at PBHI when during a staff mtg,we looked out the window to see a woman hanging off the roof of the bldg across the parking lot. She and I ran out to assist as emergency first responders with LAPD. We didn\’t even think about it-just went. I left that managed cost co before Anne but we continued to talk when she left to go the county. One of the reasons I left for ft private practice was to return to direct care and do disasater MH. Anne was an inspiration to me and a great supportive voice. Her influence sent me in the direction of true emergency mental health as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. So I\’ve been criss crossing this country since 1998.We continued to communicate when she returned to the county. She was a strong,brilliant,compassionate physician who was so approachable and warm,down to earth-never an attitude.Her generosity of spirit,sharing her knowledge of psychiatry,encouraging me to learn more and use my skills. I had the greatest respect for her,and as a psychiatrist.This does not come easy from a psychologist. Her great presence will be missed-hopefully I will do her memory proud. The depth of your sorrow is beyond my grasp. This still had to be a sudden,unexpected shock despite her struggle. You know I would have loved to take her with me to NYC,the emergency psych job of our lifetime. My prayers are with you,God Bless on your path to transcendence. ginger
I saw the sadness of Ann\’s colleagues the day following her death. The collective sense of loss reflected more than the loss of a competent and caring associate. Ann was special. One memory captured part of that: DMH encountered an elderly doctor whose practice skills had decayed so much, that despite his best intent, he had unwittingly become an unacceptable risk to his patients. Out of empathy and respect for his dedication, no one wanted to inform him he was to be decredentialled. So, of course, the group looked to Ann to relay this news empathically. Well, she reluctantly visited him at his practice and returned to report with much sympathy and an odd embarrassment that he had accepted the bad news well, and resigned. Then Ann added that he had walked her to her car and asked her out on a date. God Bless You Ann. You touched many people directly and indirectly, and continue to do so through your dedication to Best Practices. You made a difference.