I spent eight years as Orcas Island’s hospice nurse; here is what I saw

…and what I am building before I go

||| FROM DEBRA O’CONNER, R.N. |||

I have been enormously fortunate in my nursing career — from midwife at birth to midwife for the dying. It is one of the oldest professions there is, and I am proud to have walked both ends of it.

Eight years ago I came to Orcas Island as the Hospice of the Northwest nurse serving this community. The reception I received here was wonderful. The relationships I formed — with patients, with families, with caregivers — have been very special to me. This community has been good to me and I have always wanted to find a way to give something back.

From the very beginning I was invited to attend the caregiver potlucks. I met the people doing the quiet, essential, often invisible work of caring for our neighbors at home. They were remarkable — skilled, dedicated, and deeply committed to this community. I was struck by their professionalism and their heart. Those early caregivers set a standard that I believe defines what care on this island can and should look like.

Then Covid changed everything. Many of our most experienced caregivers retired. New ones struggled to find their footing without the community and connection the earlier group had built naturally over time. Families who needed care couldn’t find it. Caregivers who wanted to work couldn’t connect with the families who needed them. The gap I had never noticed before was suddenly impossible to ignore.

According to the 2023 San Juan County Community Health Assessment, 34% of the county population is over 64 years old — making seniors the largest age group in the islands. The need for reliable, connected, professional caregiving here is not a future concern. It is a present reality. And without enough caregivers to meet that need, islanders who have lived here for decades, who want nothing more than to stay, are being forced to leave. That is what this project is working to change.

I retired in September 2025. But I did not stop. I started.

The Orcas Island Caregiver Project is the answer to a need this island has been growing toward for years. It will build a referral network that connects qualified professional caregivers with the families and individuals who need them. It will create monthly education and peer community that keeps skilled caregivers doing the work they love. It will establish a dedicated online platform where caregivers and islanders can find each other with ease.

The project was identified as a priority need by a formal community task force — the Out of Clinic Care workgroup — and made possible by a private donation and seed funding from the Orcas Island Health Care District, which serves as the fiscal pass-through sponsor and is supporting the development of the project.

We have already taken the first steps. Since launching, our caregiver network has grown significantly. A rotating referral system is connecting families with providers. Monthly educational programs are underway. All of it built so far on community commitment and volunteer effort.

This May, the Orcas Island Caregiver Project is participating in the GiveOrcas Campaign — the Orcas Island Community Foundation’s annual giving drive, running May 12–21 at giveorcas.org. Your gift takes this from the ground up to what it can fully become.

I should tell you one more thing. After this campaign I will be moving to Nicaragua — pursuing my own version of aging responsibly. But this project is not going with me. It belongs to Orcas Island. I am building it to last, with the people and partners here who will carry it forward long after I have gone.

This is my way of saying thank you to an island that has given me so much.

Please give at giveorcas.org between May 12 and May 21. Come meet us at the GiveOrcas Launch Event at Orcas Center on May 12 from 4–6 pm, or at the Farmer’s Market at the Village Green on May 16.

About the Orcas Island Caregiver Project
The Orcas Island Caregiver Project will connect Orcas Island’s professional caregivers with the familiesand individuals who need them, offering referrals, monthly education, peer community, and a dedicatedonline platform. Made possible by a private donation and seed funding from the Orcas Island Health CareDistrict, which serves as the fiscal pass-through sponsor and is supporting the development of theproject. Participating in the 2026 GiveOrcas Campaign through the Orcas Island Community Foundation.