Loma Linda University Opens Campus in Downtown San Bernardino
June 28, 2016: A new campus was dedicated last week in downtown San Bernardino by the Loma Linda University (LLU) health system. Senior editor Jiggs Gallagher was present to report for Adventist Today as civic leaders and local residents joined with LLU administrators in celebration of a facility that will include a community clinic, a vegetarian restaurant and art installations.
More than 500 people were present for the ribbon cutting ceremony in which Josie Gonzales, an elected representative from the Fifth District to the legislative body of the county government, the Board of Supervisors for San Bernardino County, presented a certificate of appreciation to Dr. Richard Hart, president of LLU. Pastor Lowell Cooper, chairman of the board for LLU and a recently retired vice president of the Adventist denomination’s General Conference, also participated in the event.
A choir participated from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. This native American tribe in San Bernardino County made a donation of $10 million to the new facilities.
The community clinic is operated by the Social Action Corps Health System (SACHS), and outreach organization of LLU through which medical, nursing and other students volunteer to bring health care to low-income and minority communities. Faculty members also volunteer time in the SACHS clinics to provide skilled supervision for the students and make these clinics an important learning experience.
The Farm-acy Cafe will serve fresh, healthy meals with a vegetarian menu. It will provide a food service for patients, clinic volunteers and anyone off the street in the downtown neighborhood. Photos below show the restaurant, the patient waiting area for the clinic and the spiral staircase that links the three floors of the building with an art installation that hangs from the ceiling.
San Bernardino is the city of 210,000 residents that covers more than 80 square miles (21 km) with its southern boundary about a mile from the main campus of LLU. It is one of the largest cities in the U.S. state of California.
