Who was Billi Odegaard?

Billi Odegaard came to Portland, Oregon in 1969 fresh out of graduate school at the University of Washington, where she had earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health Nursing.  She supervised a team of Public Health nurses serving predominantly African American neighborhoods in Oregon’s largest urban county.  She demonstrated leadership and community sensitivity during these early years of her career and was quickly promoted to Director of Public Health Nursing for Multnomah County. She eventually became Director of the Health Department that grew from 100 employees in 1972 to more than 1,200 when she retired in 1999. 

Billi, in her quiet, often “behind the scenes” way, led the department and community partners to implement innovative programs and practices that dramatically improved the lives of innumerable individuals, families and communities.  Billi was always a “nurse’s nurse” and provided leadership for the profession in many ways, including development and implementation of the broadest and most advanced practice nursing laws in the United States.

Billi’s vision focused not only on large ideas, but on individuals, encouraging them to try different jobs within the system, to take the next step in their education and to be successful in ways they had not thought possible. In her honor, an endowed nursing scholarship focused on increasing the number of nurses and nursing leaders from traditionally underrepresented communities was created. Colleagues, friends and family are now working together through a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to implement Billi Odegaard Nursing Scholarships beginning in the fall of 2023.