Eilís O'Neill
Reporter
About
Eilís is a reporter covering health. She focuses on health inequities, substance use and addiction, infectious diseases, mental health, and reproductive and maternal health.
Eilís came to KUOW in 2016. Before that, she worked as a freelance reporter, first in South America, and then in New York City. Her work has aired on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, APM’s Marketplace, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and other programs.
Eilís' work as part of a team covering Covid-19 outbreaks and vaccine hesitation in Washington won a regional Murrow award, as did a series about children who lost parents to Covid-19. Her series about the opioid crisis on the Olympic Peninsula won several regional Society for Professional Journalists awards as well as a national Public Media Journalists Association award.
Eilís grew up in Seattle and was a high school intern at KUOW, in the program that later became RadioActive. She has a Master's in Science, Health, and Environment Reporting from Columbia University. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, Spanish
Pronouns: she/her
Stories
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Domestic workers could get guaranteed breaks, minimum wage under proposed Washington state bill
Domestic workers in Washington state don’t have guaranteed breaks or minimum pay — unless they’re in the city of Seattle. A bill currently before the Washington state Legislature would change that.
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Fearing deportation, immigrants are missing appointments at Seattle-area clinics
Providers at Seattle area-clinics that serve immigrant communities say that ever since President Trump returned to office, many more patients than usual have been missing appointments.
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Who's at risk of deportation in Washington state? 5 things to know
KUOW looked into who is at risk of deportation in Washington state: how many immigrants are here without legal status, where they immigrated from, what type of jobs they do, and more.
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New refugees in Washington are promised 90 days of support. A Trump order ended that
Refugee resettlement organizations received a memo Friday, Jan. 24, ordering them to stop helping refugees and not to incur additional expenses. The stop-work order has threatened the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of refugees in Washington state.
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Lawsuit challenges Trump’s suspension of program that helps detained immigrants
A lawsuit was filed Friday challenging President Donald Trump’s order to stop legal orientation programs for people held in immigration detention centers. The lawsuit aims to restore immediate access to those programs.
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Refugees scheduled to come to Seattle are now in limbo
Last year, Washington state welcomed more than 6,000 refugees. But an executive order from President Trump last week paused the program.
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Western Washington groups scramble to admit refugees before Trump’s inauguration
Advocacy groups are working nonstop to admit refugees into the U.S. as quickly as possible, in case the incoming Trump administration shuts the door to additional arrivals.
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Washington's tribes want Medicaid to cover traditional healing
When Washington’s legislative session kicks off next week, lawmakers will take up the issue of traditional Native American medicine.
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With Trump returning, some trans folks prepare to move to Washington state, or another country
Amid worries about what President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration means for them, some transgender people plan to relocate to Washington state — or leave the U.S. altogether.
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With RFK nomination, Washington state health leaders brace for local impacts
President-elect Donald Trump has named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, a choice that worries some Washington state leaders, largely because of his position on vaccines.
