Nursing students at Rowan College at Burlington County have been volunteering to help at the county’s COVID-19 call enter in Westampton.

The Burlington County Health Department put out a call several weeks ago to nursing students at the college looking for volunteers. Several signed up immediately, including student Kaylee Hammond.

“It makes me feel like I’m doing something,” she says.

Freshmen, sophomores and juniors are eligible to work in the call center.

“I think it’s really brave what our health care workers and first responders are doing right now,” says student Madison Mulhall. "And the fact that we’re able to do anything as small as answering phones is a really big blessing."

Officials with the call center say that the center could not function without the work of the volunteers.

“There’s always something that could be done, whether it's answering the phone calls and scheduling appointments or calling people and letting them know their test results are negative,” says county health educator Cristina Martins.

Senior nursing students are helping staff at the testing site, while others are working on contact tracing. The students say that they are learning more than they ever anticipated.

"Therapeutic communication is a very big thing in nursing. The screening questions aren't open-ended and necessarily therapeutic but once you get through that and they're telling you about what's going on in their life and how worried they are, you're able to just be there and help them,” says Mulhall.

The volunteers say that this pandemic has not scared them away from a career in health care. Some saying that it makes them want to follow in their career even more.

These nursing students are receiving credit toward their clinical hours. The health department says many have already surpassed their hours and are still showing up to volunteer.