A young volunteer who has devoted her time and energy to support young people across various projects for the Island’s NHS has been recognised nationally and invited to chat online with His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales.
Hannah Palmer-Davis, 19 and from Newport, was nominated by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s Volunteer Co-ordinator, unbeknown to her, to ‘Step Up To Serve’, an independent charity set-up to make social action the norm for all 10-20 year olds in the UK by 2020.
On 20th November, HRH The Prince of Wales will meet young people involved in social action across the UK via his first ever Google+ Hangout, a video chat service that enables groups of people to hold conversations over the internet. This will mark the first anniversary of the #iwill campaign which he launched in 2013 with support from the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.
Hosted by Alex Jones from the BBC’s One Show, the 30 minute Google+ Hangout will give The Prince of Wales an opportunity to talk publicly with a small group of young people about their experiences of social action, with a focus on how they are using technology to help others. Hannah will be participating in the online chat from her university in Plymouth.
Speaking about her forthcoming chat with the Prince and the event in London, Hannah said:
“It was a complete surprise when I found out I had been nominated and an even bigger surprise to hear that I had been selected for the online chat with The Prince of Wales. I’m really excited about the whole experience and especially to be involved in future plans to work with the Island community to encourage more young people to get involved with volunteering.”
Since 2009 Hannah has been working with the Island’s NHS and the 111 service to develop an online Live chatroom for local young people. The chatroom is a place where young people can go online, anonymously, to seek medical advice from healthcare professionals without having to visit their GP. Hannah has also worked on the development and delivery of the ‘Check it Out’ initiative which is a forum for young people to incorporate young people’s views and involvement in the development of health services. Hannah now runs the Facebook page and updates the website as well as being involved in the development of an App.
As well as supporting a number of departments at St. Mary’s Hospital as a volunteer, Hannah has also volunteered with St John Ambulance in between studying Human Physiology at Plymouth University. Hannah is also a volunteer at a Hospice in Plymouth and is involved with fundraising for dementia. Alongside her volunteering commitments she is also planning to trek the Great Wall of China in 2015.
Joining The Prince of Wales and Alex Jones at Clarence House will be young #iwill Ambassador George Fielding, BEM, Helen Davies, Live Chat Moderator for YouthNet and Ronan Dunne, Chief Executive of O2. The four young people joining via the web from around the UK will be Jordan Caldwell from Northern Ireland, Hannah Palmer-Davis from the Isle of Wight, Devan Witter from Yorkshire and Sarah Shaikh from Surrey.
Google+ Hangouts allow live broadcasts in HD on Google+, YouTube and websites. Members of the public can join the #iwill Hangout on the 20th November at 1530 to listen and contribute their own comments by visiting: Google+: https://plus.google.com/events/c2m7bppgi91st94kmstunl0ja3c?authkey=CNb9-ITz66-x3gE
The Google+ Hangout will also be streamed live on the British Monarchy YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel.
