After 40 years in health care, serving the community comes naturally to political newcomer Hillary Soares.

The retired nurse told The Royal Gazette in a recent interview that being asked to run as a candidate for the United Bermuda Party (UBP) early this year solved the question of how she could continue to serve the community in the years after retirement.

"I realised I still had tons of energy left - I wasn't really ready to retire at this point and I needed to put all of that experience to good use but I didn't quite know how to do that and then one day somebody asked me to consider running for the UBP and it seemed to fit like a glove and I felt that was right."

She first arrived on the Island from the United Kingdom via Canada in the early 1960s and in 1979 was appointed the first oncology services coordinator at the King Edward Memorial Hospital marking the debut of the hospital's cancer service incorporating community care.

Since then she has made an indelible impact on Bermuda's health care scene.

In 1980 she founded the Patients Assistance League and Service (PALS) and ten years later was to play a key role in defining Bermuda's approach to palliative care when she was appointed the first administrator of Agape House, the hospice for terminally ill patients.

She has also sat on a number of health care and related committees, including the Bermuda Medical Council and a 1990 committee to review sexual abuse laws.

"I do think that health care policies haven't moved on very quickly," Mrs. Soares said when asked how her professional experiences have shaped her political thinking.

"I want them to get out the 1970s thinking and come into the 21st Century. It's been very slow in some ways."

As an example she cites nursing home care in Bermuda which is limited to providing custodial care - "putting somebody in a bed, sitting them in a chair, seeing to their basic needs and not doing very much else for them".

But "there's such a huge amount now that can be done. They can have greenhouses, travel clubs... There's so much else that can be done. I think it's a matter of training all the staff to get them motivated to allow the person in the nursing home to be the best that they can be for as long as they have life."

Mrs. Soares, 62, has been a certified clinical hypnotherapist since 1998 and also works as a landscape manager for her son's construction business.

"I've always viewed things like gardening and landscaping to be something that is very wonderful to do. And to have that done for you by somebody who comes in and designs your grounds in the way that you want that then promotes life and living."

Her formative years would have prepared her well for life in a culturally diverse society.

Born in India (her father was in the British army) in an area which is now part of Pakistan, Mrs. Soares travelled and lived in Africa and the Middle East and learned Hindustani, German, Arabic, Swahili and French as a young child.

"My brother and I used to speak kind of concoctions of everything."

Among her concerns about Bermuda are the "escalating lack of respect" on the roads, and in stores as well as the Island's problems with drugs.

"We have a problem with men. It's not a female problem as much as it's a male problem - with abuse in the house, non-payment of child support, and men feeling disenfranchised. It's probably compounded by women, but we need to get a hold of that."

Solutions include education, job training and open discussion.

"We get groups to talk about what's going on... gatherings of men with their sons and their brothers and nephews. We get more togetherness, we allow fathers to be fathers. We maybe have parenting sessions, whatever. But we have to start focusing on education."

Her views on the subject are no doubt influenced by the fact that her father (who eventually became an "absolutely fantastic" teacher after his years in the army) was "seriously alcoholic" in the early days - a subject still too raw for her to discuss publicly.

"It taught me a lot. Finally when I got to be a health care provider myself, my experience with him taught me a huge amount."

Her mother, she revealed, was "brilliant at education" rising to the board of London University.

"I hope that I can put in the same kind of energy and service that I have put into other things," she says when asked what one might expect of her if she does become one of Bermuda's legislators.

"I hope that I can be a clear voice for the people who need the assistance of a parliamentarian. I hope that I will always be available to put their point of view forward... And I hope also that I will be honest, straightforward and with integrity."

She added that she would be happy to serve any constituency but would love to run as the St. George's South candidate, since she has lived in St. David's for some 17 years.

Her constituents can also expect to be treated equally regardless of political affiliation.

"I could equally represent people of the constituency without just representing people I view to be UBP because I've always viewed people as people and I would not want anybody to discriminate against me that way and so certainly my feeling is that's how I should go and that's what I should do."

On Bermuda's positive attributes, she says: "I've always thought Bermudian people are very sound in their wishes and their wants and their likes. And that they are intelligent and that they will ultimately come together in providing solutions to some of the problems that we have."