OHSU nursing student designs program to assess health needs in Baker School District
Form implemented during registration Aug. 3-4 in Baker CityBAKER CITY — Reno Hammond was presented with a challenge: find a better way to assess health needs for Baker School District students. He immediately. . .
Form implemented during registration Aug. 3-4 in Baker CityBAKER CITY — Reno Hammond was presented with a challenge: find a better way to assess health needs for Baker School District students. He immediately started on a solution — but first learned how to create spreadsheets for data with multiple tabs and layers to compile scores using an evidence-based system. “There was a lot of self learning,” he said with a smile. Hammond is a nursing student in Oregon Health & Science University’s program through Eastern Oregon University. For the spring 2026 term, he worked with Baker School District’s school nurses, Riley Hall and Hailey Siddoway. Hammond, a 2019 graduate of Baker High School, has a bachelor’s in public health from Oregon State University. He’s now pursuing a nursing degree. He said nursing students in their junior year are placed in a population-based setting (schools, Head Start, hospital case management) and complete a project to present at the end of the term. Siddoway mentioned the district’s need to better assess health needs for the 1,500 students in Baker School District. The current system, she said, was an online form that didn’t get many responses. “We only had a third of parents fill out the health form,” she said. And those forms — some paper, some electronic — had to be searched student by student. This meant that she and Hall, who serve all schools in the district, didn’t always have advanced knowledge of health needs, such as severe allergies, asthma, medications or hospitalizations. “You know there’s a need out there that you’re not aware of,” Hall said. “Setting up a system is the solution. ”Siddoway said the goal was to create an evidence-based scoring system based on a form filled out by parents. Students who are 18 and older can fill it out on their own. The system scores responses to indicate if a student needs extra support and creates graphs showing whether a school has a high need in certain physical and social/behavioral categories. “He put a ton of work into it, and it’s going to help the student population,” Siddoway said. “It’s above and beyond what I imagined. It’s incredible. ”The health needs form will be provided during registration Aug. 3-4 at Baker High School’s big gym for students who will attend BHS, Eagle Cap Innovative Jr/Sr High School, Haines Elementary, Brooklyn Primary and South Baker Intermediate. Hours are 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. on Monday and 8 a. m. to noon on Tuesday. Baker Middle School will host registration on the same days and times at the BMS gym. Keating Elementary will host registration from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m. Aug. 3. Baker Early Learning Center held registration in the spring, but those who need to register students can call BELC at 541-524-2310. Survey questionsQuestions cover physical and social/behavioral needs, with the option for parents to provide detailed responses through a “strengths and difficulties” questionnaire created in 1997 by Robert Goodman, a child psychiatrist. The responses result in a score, and any number 16 and above indicates the need for attention or possible intervention, Hammond said. This new system, Hall said, will help the district’s school nurses “assess needs and put resources where they’re needed. ”“It’s a better way to utilize the resources we have,” he said. “We are very supportive of this new process to collect student health information in a confidential yet accessible format to better serve our students and families in the Baker School District,” said Meghan Nilsen, assistant director of special education for Baker School District. “We hope that this will increase safety and well-being for all students in a more timely manner as we welcome in the new school year. ”