‘UK at the Half:’ PAWS Program helps kids with cancer stay on track in school
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 14, 2025) — For children battling cancer, keeping up with school can be a challenge due to frequent medical appointments, hospital stays and treatment side effects. The Providing Assistance With School (PAWS) Program at the DanceBlue Kentucky Children’s Hospital Hematology/Oncology Clinic bridges the gap between education and medical care, ensuring young patients stay on track academically.
Led by school intervention specialists, PAWS works directly with families, schools, and medical teams to provide essential support. Whether a child is unable to attend school due to intensive treatment or is struggling with cognitive side effects from medication, PAWS helps by coordinating with teachers, securing accommodations and offering academic assistance wherever the student is — be it in the clinic, hospital or at home.
Since the PAWS Program was established in 2014, more than 800 patients, from preschoolers to college students, have benefited from the services of the school intervention specialists.
“UK at the Half” airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by UK Public Relations and Strategic Communications and Marketing and Brand Strategy. To hear the “UK at the Half” interview, click on the play button above.
UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Kentucky’s top hospital ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the health care landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.