A.V. HOSPITAL PANEL SEES 2 NEW FACES : NURSE PRACTITIONER, EX-MAYOR JOIN INCUMBENTS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Two incumbents, a former Palmdale mayor and a nurse were elected to the Antelope Valley Hospital district board.

In a six-way race for three seats, the top vote-getter was Deborah Rice, a nurse practitioner who teaches part-time at the UCLA School of Nursing, followed by incumbent and attorney Steve Fox and Larry Chimbole, former mayor of Palmdale and former state assemblyman.

Plastic surgeon Dr. John Manning beat out three other candidates to take the seat left vacant in May by the resignation of Dr. Harvey Birsner. Manning was appointed by the hospital board in June to replace Birsner until the election.

``I think they returned the two incumbents because they liked the direction the hospital was going,'' said Manning, who made an unsuccessful run for the board in 1992. ``Larry Chimbole has been around for a long while, and he's a stable individual. The voters were saying we want peace and tranquillity. And Deborah Rice ran a huge campaign.''

The issues in the campaign revolved around emergency medical care in Palmdale, keeping the hospital under the control of voters, and improving staff morale and improving strained relations among the board, physicians and administrators.

Fox, Manning and Chimbole said Wednesday said they will begin working on finding a way to provide medical services in Palmdale and the south Antelope Valley.

Palmdale's only hospital, Desert Palms Community, closed in March.

Chimbole said he has arranged to meet with Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford to discuss the issue of medical services in Palmdale, while Manning said, ``there are many difficulties to be ironed out. The city and Los Angeles County have to be involved.''

``The voters were trying to say that they need emergency care in Palmdale,'' said Fox, who was first elected to the board in 1990 and recalled 16 months later in a bitter recall election. He then was re-elected seven months later in November 1992. ``They were saying that they don't want the hospital leased to an outside group. They want local control.''

The four winners will join Shirley Sayles on the five-member board and pledged to work together. Hospital directors Hank Marvin and Dante Simi did not run for re-election.

Birsner resigned from the board in May amid controversy over whether his work and the work of his medical partners for the hospital constituted a conflict of interest.

A Lancaster neurosurgeon, Birsner had frequently clashed with other board members and hospital administrators since being elected to the board a second time in 1994. Fox had been criticized for abstaining too often on board votes.

``(The board) has to cooperate,'' Chimbole said. ``I intend to make a strong effort to see that there's some cooperation. There will be differences, but my efforts will be to get everyone to cooperate. That's what the hospital needs more than anything else: a group of people going in the same direction.''

``People know that since I've been on the board, things are a lot calmer,'' Manning said. ``People want it to stay that way.''

Fox said he will extend an olive branch and help the new trustees. ``All of them have a high degree of experience. They can all hit the ground running,'' Fox said.

Rice was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.