
Amelia Templeton
Amelia Templeton is OPB’s health reporter, covering COVID-19, health inequality and Oregon’s unique approach to health care.
She’s reported for OPB since 2010. Her beats in the past have included Portland City Hall, housing and homelessness, and public lands.
Amelia’s reporting has taken her across the state to covering life in homeless camps along Portland’s Springwater Corridor trail, the collapse of public safety in rural Oregon counties and the Bundy family’s occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
She received the 2013 Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative radio for a story about public safety failures in Josephine County and an Edward R. Murrow Award for her work on the "Oregon Field Guide" documentary "Glacier Caves: Mount Hood’s Hidden World."
Amelia has been producing radio since 2004, when she contributed to a student radio podcast of stories from the war in Iraq. She has a degree in history from Swarthmore College.
She serves on the board of trustees of Catlin Gabel and volunteers every year with the Lents Neighborhood’s Chicken Beauty Contest.
Latest Stories
Nurses, leadership at OHSU reach tentative deal ahead of strike
The three-year contract includes pay raises, new safety measures, and the right to reopen the contract to negotiate over the impacts of a proposed merger with the Legacy Health system.

More than 90% of OHSU nurses vote to authorize strike
OHSU nurses last went on strike more than 20 years ago. Time for breaks, personal safety, and unease over a proposed merger with Legacy are among the challenges in negotiations.

Kaiser Permanente health care workers vote to authorize strike in Northwest
The workers are members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents more than 85,000 healthcare workers in seven states and the District of Columbia.

Oregon becomes 3rd in nation to seek federal approval for a basic health program
The program is scheduled to launch in just 9 months. If approved, it will allow tens of thousands of people slated to lose Medicaid coverage to keep their free health care. But it is expected to drive premiums up for some others.

Oregon nurses say carry Naloxone, save a life
With a little bit of preparation, anybody can save a life. That’s the message of addiction medicine nurses from Oregon Health & Science University, who are encouraging people to carry a drug that can reverse an overdose.

Oregon kids return to school — and the festival of viruses begins
Health care providers say Oregonians will soon have more options than ever to minimize the consequences of an infection with one of the now-familiar big three: COVID-19, RSV and influenza.

Audit finds unclear spending in massive Oregon prescription drug program
Due to the complexity of how the state pays for prescription drugs and a lack of transparency in drug pricing, auditors couldn’t understand why state spending on prescriptions is going up and who’s profiting from it.
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Health care workers facing violence on the job ask hospital systems, politicians for help
The recent on the job deaths of a Portland hospital security guard and a Gresham mental health aide have put a fresh spotlight on the violence that many working in health care experience routinely.
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Multnomah County says it will fine ambulance provider AMR for slow response times
Ambulances are arriving late to critical emergencies around 30% of the time, the county says. AMR says the problem is a nationwide shortage of paramedics.
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Kmart fire debris positive for asbestos, DEQ tells East Portland residents to avoid stirring it up
People can protect themselves by avoiding it and keeping kids and pets away too.