hospitals in August, it was announced yesterday.

Mrs. Manderson has been administrator of the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Richmond, California since 1988.

In 1992 it was announced she would be taking over from Canadian Mr. Hume Martin after he came to the end of his five-year contract as executive director of the hospitals.

Mr. Martin completes his term on May 15, and will become chief executive officer of Essex county district health council in Windsor, Ontario.

Bermuda Hospitals Board chairman Mr. Robert Tucker announced the "changing of the guard'' yesterday.

He said St. Brendan's administrator Mr. George Simons would be acting executive director between the end of Mr. Martin's contract and the start of Mrs. Manderson's term on August 1.

Mrs. Joan Dillas Wright, director of nursing and patient services at St.

Brendan's, would serve as acting administrator of the hospital during the same period.

Mr. Tucker added: "The board is proud that its policy of appointing qualified Bermudians to positions at all levels in the organisation has now included the top position.

"Mrs. Manderson returns to her birthplace with impressive credentials that will ensure that the task of running Bermuda's two community hospitals is maintained at the highest possible levels.

"She will find that Mr. Martin has built up a management structure which is largely staffed with qualified Bermudians.

"He has also presided over the spending of over $30 million on major improvements to KEMH and the $7 million spent on St. Brendan's, which have brought both hospitals to the standards which have earned widespread admiration and respect. "The board is extremely grateful to Mr. Martin for the five years of tireless professionalism that he has brought to his position at a time when the board and its properties were facing many daunting challenges.

"We wish him well in his upcoming post in Canada, and hope he and his family have enjoyed their time in Bermuda.'' Mrs. Manderson's hospital in California serves a population of 65,000 -- slightly more than Bermuda's.

She was educated at Berkeley Institute, and earned a diploma in nursing from Montreal General Hospital. This was followed with an MBA in health services administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Mrs. Sheila Manderson.