2 Named to Irvine Medical Center Board : Buster, Miltner to Represent UCI on Proposed Hospital Panel

Edmond B. Buster, chairman of the board of California College of Medicine at UC Irvine, and John R. Miltner, UCI’s vice chancellor for university advancement, will represent the university on the board of directors of the as-yet unbuilt Irvine Medical Center (IMC), it was announced Wednesday.

The university and IMC, a community coalition of residents and business leaders seeking a hospital for Irvine, had clashed over the location of the proposed hospital. University officials had sought state approval for a new university-affiliated hospital on campus and opposed the IMC. But in December, 1983, state health officials approved a certificate of need for a 177-bed, $64.4-million hospital at the corner of Alton Parkway and Sand Canyon Road.

“It is heartening to see all of us working together for a common goal,” said UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason, who nominated Buster and Miltner for the appointments.

“The involvement of the university in the development of IMC is the result of a year of discussions by UCI and IMC officials,” IMC Board Chairman C. David Baker said.

The inclusion of university officials on the new hospital’s board of directors indicates “our willingness to cooperate in any way we can,” Buster said Wednesday. The appointments can be viewed as “an olive leaf . . . to get together and set up programs for the benefit of both,” he added.

“Specific program affiliations which have been under discussion for many months will be announced in the near future,” Baker said in announcing the appointments. He added that the nominations will be acted on by the IMC board at its Jan. 24 meeting.

Heads Cherry Textron Buster, a Santa Ana resident, is president of Cherry Textron, a division of Textron Inc., which has plants in Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Anaheim and Mendota, Minn. Miltner, an Irvine resident, became UCI vice chancellor for university advancement in 1983 and is the senior university administrator for external affairs.

Ground breaking for the hospital is tentatively scheduled for this summer. Preliminary architectural plans will be reviewed March 7 by the Irvine Planning Commission.