Parents in Fontana will now have access to an urgent care clinic designed specifically for children. City and state officials and medical professionals inaugurated Loma Linda University Children’s Health pediatric center in Fontana Sept. 29 amid nation-wide healthcare challenges, including funding and staff shortfalls.

Still, the new facility is designed to provide an alternative option to help working parents treat non-life threatening illnesses like some respiratory conditions, throat, ear and stomach infections quickly while minimizing commutes. 

The red-ribbon event marked a long-awaited addition to the region’s healthcare landscape. Providers like Social Action Corps Health (SAC Health), a San Bernardino nonprofit providing healthcare to underserved populations, face layoffs and a $10 million operating budget deficit. In an attempt to close that budget gap, the organization laid off over 100 workers and closed two locations in San Bernardino along South K Street and East 3rd Street in August.

The organization had been planning these closures for about a year. Now, they’re consolidating their healthcare and education efforts at their new location at 1003 E. Brier Drive. SAC Health serves 65,000 patients across 240,000 annual visits. These changes come after President Donald Trump passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025. The bill cuts Medicaid by $1 trillion over the next ten years, straining California’s Medicaid program — Medi-Cal — and its ability to provide accessible healthcare to residents. 

For children, who are more susceptible to respiratory illness than adults, the growth of warehouses across the Inland Empire poses challenges, including the difficult balance of land-use decisions, air quality concerns and economic prosperity.

According to a California University of Science and Medicine review by Catherine Kim, Christine Gharib and Hani Atamna tracking limited research on pediatric asthma in the Inland Empire, “Children living closer to major railways, industrial sites, and public housing experience more poor air quality days and significantly more frequent asthma-related health care visits.” The review also states that the Inland Empire has “the second-lowest supply of specialists in the state at 83 specialists per 100,000 residents … which significantly impacts access to timely and appropriate care for pediatric asthma patients.” According to the review, the statewide average is 131 specialists per 100,000 residents. 

Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren, alongside Peter Baker, senior vice president of Loma Linda University Children’s Health, and California State Assembly Member James C. Ramos, welcomed the crowd and provided opening remarks. Warren said the center represented a “dream” of hers. She recalled her sister’s asthma and the challenges her mother faced seeking care, calling medical visits “traumatising.”

“This is a dream of almost … 12 years — we needed more healthcare services,” Warren said, adding that treating her sister’s asthma meant the family would have to take the bus to the Adventist White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles. “By the time we got back home, all we did was sit on the couch and look at each other because it was just so scary.”

Inland Empire Community News sent Warren an email request for comment about whether the City of Fontana has a responsibility to address poor air quality that leads to respiratory illness in children. She did not respond by the time of publication. 

At the opening ceremony, Assembly Member Ramos emphasized the importance of having a dedicated pediatric urgent care facility close to residents’ homes.

“They’re able to come to this clinic rather than going straight to the emergency room and having to wait eight to ten hours to be seen,” Ramos said, recalling his experience as a youth on the San Manuel Nation reservation with limited resources.

According to Baker, many urgent care centers in the Inland Empire focus on adults but “access for pediatric-specific care is rather rare.”

The region faces a gap in child-centered care relative to nearby counties.

“We have about 1.2 million kids in our region versus some of the other areas of California,” Baker said. “We have about 50% of pediatric providers as are in Orange, San Diego and LA Counties.”

The new urgent care pediatric center is roughly 12,000 square feet and features 17 spaces — two exam rooms and 15 treatment rooms to help meet demand, according to longtime nurses Trina Freire and Carrolyn Bergman. They said the center will offer extended hours to accommodate working parents’ schedules, from noon to 10 p.m. during the week and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. 

Following Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and its cascading effects, Fontana is gaining specialized care for children even as regional healthcare providers are under strain.

With healthcare cuts straining resources nationwide, the opening of a nearby urgent care center for children is a bright spot.

“One of the things that’s exciting is being able to resolve most children’s issues very rapidly,” Baker said, “and hopefully they can go home and back to school or back to playing as quickly as possible.”