Paulette Walter has seen many changes in medicine and education since she started working with chronically sick children in the 1970s. "But the first question a child has after going through a medical procedure is still the same. It's always: 'When can I go back to school?'"

That is "happily the biggest development in all these years, that schools are becoming more adaptable and kids are accepted and welcomed back in the schools," said Walter, a member of United University Professions at the SUNY Stony Brook Health Sciences Center chapter. A child life specialist, Walter and her colleagues on the School Re-entry team at the Stony Brook center provide a bridge for children with chronic conditions to return to class. As these photos reflect, health care professionals in pediatric oncology units focus on children's lives, not their illnesses.

Rosemary Mahan, a nurse since 1984, became a nurse practitioner at the center in 1992.

"There are so many rewarding aspects to this job," Mahan said. While much of her job is nursing children back to health, she might also arrange a talent show for patients and siblings so their talents can be applauded. Because the cure rate for all pediatric cancers is about 80 percent, the prognosis for most children is positive and the expectation is that children will grow up to lead healthy lives.

"This job is so rewarding," Mahan said. "What we give, we gain tenfold from these children and their families."

Workers who provide health care are a "vital link to the community," noted Kathy Southerton, president of the Stony Brook HSC chapter of UUP. "Our more than 3,000 members provide many critical services and desperately needed medical care for thousands of residents on Long Island and into the metropolitan area." UUP represents academic and professional faculty at the State University of New York's campuses, four health centers and three public hospitals. The Stony Brook center's work in pediatric oncology is representative of the essential work health care professionals do, Southerton noted.

"Our members, in their diverse roles, do remarkable work that includes, but is not limited to, teaching future health care providers, supporting the equipment and technology necessary to keep the hospital functioning, providing health care education to the public and of course addressing the different needs of a wide variety of patients," she said.

"This is a great tribute to the health care professionals who are so committed to this program and the children they serve," said NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue. "Every day across the state, in schools, on campuses, in homes and in institutions, our health care members answer the call."

The health care specialists who work in the pediatric oncology department range from doctors and nurses, through a full gamut of therapists and technicians.

One relatively unknown job title is child life specialist. Brad Jerson became one in the summer of 2005 after finishing the required 480-hour internship and passing his board exams.

His job ranges from developing and giving pre-operative tours at the Health Science Center at Stony Brook to working with families in bereavement and grief support. He's also a specialist in medical play, an educational and therapeutic tool.

"Besides working on things like guided imagery for pain management, medical play is important because it gives them an experience where they are in control," Jerson said. Children get to play at drawing blood from dolls, for example, or examine a stuffed animal.

From those play sessions, the specialists find out what the child is most afraid or anxious about.

For the health care members whose job is to help kids get well enough to go back to school, there are close ties to the schools.

"I like that we get to follow these kids for a long time," said Dr. Robert Parker, who has been a professor of pediatrics for 16 years and directs the pediatric oncology and hematology program. Even in the face of life-threatening illnesses, "education is clearly a prime component in our kids' lives," Parker said. Members in the department started raising funds to support patients' career choices a number of years ago.

In 2003, the fund to support costs in college or vocational schools was named the Danny Brooks Memorial Educational Award to honor a Port Jefferson student. After successful treatment for his cancer, Brooks received a teaching degree in special education and became a teacher, but was killed in a car accident.

"Danny had really pulled his life together, and he epitomized the combination of not just getting well to get by but to get well and give back," Parker said.

To donate to the fund, the school re-entry program or the general fund of the unit, send checks to the pediatric oncology and hematology department at SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, N.Y. 11794-8111.