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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Confused about your eligibility for the Covid shot? In Washington state, you’re covered
Thanks to a standing order signed by the state health officer Thursday, anyone in Washington state can get the Covid-19 vaccine without consulting their doctor.
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Wear a mask, get the shot: How to navigate summer Covid spike in King County
Covid is at its highest point in a year in King County, with nearly twice the normal number of people visiting the ER every week for Covid-related symptoms or complications.
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Religious groups pressure retail pharmacies, including Costco, not to carry abortion drug
Religious organizations have ramped up their pressure on retail pharmacies to not carry mifepristone — the first of two drugs used in most medication abortions and to manage some miscarriages.
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Trans people in WA prisons say gender-affirming care lacks, despite court-backed improvement plan
About 300 people currently incarcerated in Washington identify as trans or non-binary. The state corrections department is under a court-backed plan to improve their access to gender-affirming care, which has often been sidelined or delayed due to bureaucratic hurdles.
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King County's next mental health crisis center could be on Seattle's First Hill. The community has thoughts
King County’s next crisis center for behavioral health could be at the old Polyclinic building on Broadway, in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood.
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As Travis Decker manhunt stalls, Wenatchee veterans call for more mental health services
A military veteran, Travis Decker, is wanted for allegedly killing his three young daughters outside Wenatchee, raising questions about whether he had adequate mental health care for his diagnosed borderline personality disorder, and for what some speculate could also have been PTSD.
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Washington, other states sue Trump administration for sharing health data with Homeland Security
In recent weeks, the Trump administration handed off information about Medicaid recipients to the Department of Homeland Security, according to Washington Attorney General Nick Brown.
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Native children in WA are disproportionately taken from their families. Advocates are working to change that
Native American children in Washington state are far more likely to be taken from their parents and placed in foster care than any other kids. That rate has remained stubbornly high, despite policy efforts to keep more families together.
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Washington state doctors, lawmakers question federal changes to Covid vaccine recs
Experts worry new federal Covid vaccine guidance advice runs contrary to science and could lead to fewer people getting vaccinated.
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His day started with selling a chicken coop. It ended in immigration detention
Sergey Kostenyuk and Mary Loisate have been together for more than 20 years. Loisate was born in the U.S., but Kostenyuk is a legal permanent resident with a green card. He came to Spokane from Ukraine as a refugee more than 30 years ago, when he was a child.