On September 5, 36-year-old Joelle Pauporte, M.D., died peacefully in her husband's arms and surrounded by her family.
The West Hartford, Conn., psychiatrist had been battling breast cancer for two years.
During these months, she especially devoted herself to bonding with her daughter, Halle, by reading books to her. And in the process of reading to Halle, she came up with the idea for a project called “Light One Little Candle.” The purpose of the endeavor would be to make children's books available to hospitalized cancer patients free of charge. Each patient could then pick out a book, sign it, and give it to his or her own child as a lasting memento (Psychiatric News, May 20).
The project was launched in March. Various cancer centers were asked to participate in the program and agreed to come on board. Mostly through word of mouth, people learned of the book drive and started donating new children's books, so that within only a few weeks several thousand books were received.
In April Pauporte appeared on both ABC and NBC television networks to publicize her undertaking. After that, she got phone calls and e-mails from hospital staff in California, Illinois, the District of Columbia, Michigan, and Toronto, indicating that they wanted to participate.
If only one of her dreams about the enterprise could be fulfilled, Pauporte said in an interview with Psychiatric News in April, it is that the“ project will go on long after I am not here.”
“We psychiatrists should further the Light One Little Candle project in every hospital where we work and in every hospital close to where we live,” emphasized Leah Dickstein, M.D., a professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of Louisville. Dickstein was chair of the selection committee for the APA/Bristol-Meyers Squibb Fellowship in Public Psychiatry when Pauporte was chosen to be one of the 2002-2004 fellows.
“Psychiatrists are also encouraged to support the project by donating new children's books or by donating money for new children's books,” said Beatrice Edner, senior program director in the APA Office of Quality Improvement and Psychiatric Services. Edner managed the APA-Bristol Meyers Squibb Fellowship in Public Psychiatry at the time that Pauporte was chosen to be one of the fellows.
“The book drive,” Elizabeth Auchincloss, M.D., believes,“ is an exciting, creative, and much-needed effort to attend to the emotional well-being of children and families in crisis.” Auchincloss is director of psychiatry training at Cornell University Weill Medical College, where Pauporte completed her first three years of residency.
Details about the Light One Little Candle project and how to contribute to it are posted at<www.lightonelittlecandle.org>. Financial contributions to the project can be sent to Light One Little Candle, P.O. Box 1483, Port Washington, N.Y. 11050. ▪
