Hospi-pals

We hope to lighten the mood of the children participating, whilst creating an awareness for the issues some of them may face.

Our Social Issue

The isolation and loneliness that accompanies the long term hospitalization of young people. It aligns with the third Global Sustainability Goal, "Health and Wellbeing".

Why We Chose It

Our team chose the topic of addressing the emotional well-being of hospitalised children because we believe in the transformative power of empathy and support during challenging times. Especially since we experienced isolation during lockdown we can only begin to understand how lonely they felt. Along with witnessing the emotional struggles faced by young patients, we were inspired to make a meaningful impact on their lives. Our collective belief is that every child, regardless of their health circumstances, deserves emotional support to to enhance their overall well-being.

Our Goal

Our big idea is a project called “Hospi- Pals” we came up with the idea to connect young inpatients with primary school children like a pen pal system. By doing this we are allowing children to make friends outside of the hospital, we are Raising awareness, Improving the wellbeing of hospitalised children through pen pals and providing fun activities/events, Functioning website to connect children to other children in primary schools.

Our Innovative Action

We have created a website for Hospi-Pals, and an Instagram account to help raise awareness. We contacted many organisations (such as the Irish Cancer Society, the Children's Health Foundation, Children in Hospital and Childhood Cancer Ireland). We also hosted a bake sale in which we fundraised 200 euros, we used part of the money to buy resources for pupils at Lindsay Road Primary School to make cards for hospitalised children and we then delivered the cards to Crumlin and Temple Street Hospital. The remaining money will be donated to Children in Hospital Ireland.

Our Impact

We have made a positive difference through the use of cards organised to give to long term hospitalised children. These cards were made by young children in primary school, and given to the children in hospital, making them feel appreciated and cared about. As well as helping reduce isolation for these children, we also brought a positive change to the primary school kids we worked with. Through our presentation we helped these children understand their privilege to be able to hang out with friends everyday and helped develop their emotional intelligence and sensitivity.