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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King Country searches for ways to save public health clinics from the budget ax
Most of King County’s 10 public health centers will have to close next year unless the county comes up with a budget fix soon.
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Half of WA’s undocumented immigrants are uninsured. For the first time, the state marketplace is open to them
Roughly 50% of undocumented immigrants don't have health insurance. This month, Washington became the first state to open its insurance marketplace to all undocumented immigrants. Those below a certain income will even be able to get state subsidies to help pay the insurance premiums.
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Native women in WA are dying during and after childbirth. Could cash help?
Native women are more likely to die during or shortly after childbirth than any other group in Washington state. Now, a nonprofit in the Seattle area is trying to tackle that with a new approach: cash.
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Aging Boomers can't find caregivers in rural WA. Who can fill the gap?
Boomers in Central Washington are growing older and needing more care, but their kids have moved away to bigger cities, and there aren’t enough nursing homes and paid in-home caregivers to take care of everyone.
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Port Angeles pharmacy becomes first in Washington state approved for abortion drug mifepristone
A pharmacy in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula just became the first in the state to announce publicly that it will begin dispensing mifepristone — the first of two drugs used in most medication abortions.
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'Eres mi reina.' Una paciente que sufre de demencia y su amoroso esposo enfermero
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'You’re my queen.' A Latina wife with dementia and the loving husband who cares for her
The U.S. population of Latino seniors is expected to more than double over the next 20 years, and Latinos are one of the groups most at risk of developing dementia. Services aren't keeping pace with the growing need.
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Where to get the updated Covid shot in King County
Updated Covid vaccines are expected to arrive in Washington state within days, now that the CDC has recommended them for everyone six months and older.
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There's meth on that: Study finds drug traces on Seattle transit rides
Researchers with the University of Washington looking at possible secondhand drug exposure on public transit found methamphetamine and fentanyl on surfaces and in the air on Seattle and Portland's buses and trains.
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Understanding 'familicide' after Seattle's murder-suicide in Wallingford
