Domestic violence causes three times as many emergency room visits by women as automobile accidents and muggings combined, North American statistics show.

And the situation in Bermuda could be the same, Hospitals Board Executive Director Mrs. Sheila Manderson claimed yesterday.

Speaking at the annual Bermuda Nurses' Association Nurse of the Year award ceremony, Mrs. Manderson said the health system showed "serious gaps'' in the care of women.

Ms Rhonda Daniels was chosen Nurse of the Year.

Other chilling statistics Mrs. Manderson cited included: HIV infection ranked fifth as a cause of death for women aged 25 to 44 in 1991; Half of women over 65 who are the most at risk of dying from cancer of the breast, cervix or uterus had not received mammograms or pap smears in the preceding year; Of women who had not had mammograms or pap tests, one in four said their physicians had never brought the subject up; Excluding childbirth, cardiovascular disease puts more women in hospital each year than any other condition.

"While these statistics represent the health care scene in North America, I think that the situation is perhaps similar in other countries including Bermuda -- hence the concern and need for intervention,'' she said.

Mrs. Manderson urged nurses to "pave the way'' in making health care "women centred.'' "Help create an environment that addresses the needs of women,'' she urged more than 100 nurses yesterday at a tea and fashion show held by the Bermuda Nurses' Association at the Royal Amateur Dinghy Club.

Mrs. Manderson also said that extending hours for working women, providing education on disease prevention and examining the social and psychological factors that impact on women's health were ways nurses could practise the concept of "total woman care.'' Strokes and high blood pressure in women were often the result of the added stresses of working and running a home, rearing children and caring for aging parents.

She added that health care should be adapted to the different needs of men and women.

"Women do have additional needs than men as they go through the various phases of life,'' she said.

Nurse of the Year Ms Daniels, a nurse epidemiologist at the Department of Health, was nominated by her peers for her professionalism and outstanding work in the community.

Ms Daniels agreed that heart disease, cancer and HIV were major health concerns for women adding that a panel would be meeting this week to discuss the issue.

And she agreed that today's women were under tremendous pressure to look after their families and hold down jobs.

"The woman is everything,'' she said. "She may be a mother, care-giver and breadwinner. She is looked to for the health of her family.'' More education was needed for young women to empower them to make healthy choices governing their relationships and lifestyles, Ms Daniels added.

"The trends in the United States are reflected here in Bermuda,'' she said.

"We really tend to mimic what we see in the US.'' Specialising in the control of infectious diseases, Ms Daniels has spoken publicly on a number of occasions on the need for more AIDS prevention education.

Nurse concerned over the rising incidence of HIV among women From Page 1 She added the rising incidence of HIV among women was a major concern.

And female HIV sufferers were more likely to go undetected than their male counterparts, she said.

While she admitted education resources for AIDS-prevention were limited, she advocated a more comprehensive approach to tackling the problem by addressing a number of related issues.

"A lot of our social problems are linked,'' she said. "We need a more combined effort in providing education on domestic violence, drug rehabilitation and AIDS prevention.

"As long as it remains so fragmented it will make solving problems more difficult.'' Ms Daniels is a founding member and vice-president of Aids Education Group the Allan Vincent Smith Foundation. She also recently became a foster parent to a ten-year-old boy.

After qualifying as a nurse 16 years ago at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Wales, Ms Daniels worked in the United Kingdom. She then returned to Bermuda to work in the new baby nursery in the King Edward Memorial VII Hospital's maternity ward before transferring to the Health Department.

Yesterday she claimed she was taken aback by the nomination.

"It's better than Miss Bermuda because I was chosen by my colleagues,'' she said.

NURSE OF THE YEAR -- Ms Rhonda Daniels.