Nursing Students Volunteer for Pawsitive Change in the Community
By Julia Hettiger

UTEP nursing students in the Texas Nursing Students’ Association volunteer at El Paso Animal Services, which helps them as they navigate their nursing education and learn to empathize with patients.
It’s no secret that the nursing profession requires emotional investment, but College of Nursing students are using creativity to engage with this reality by volunteering with animals.
Since 2018, UTEP nursing students in the Texas Nursing Students’ Association (TNSA) have given their time to the furry friends at El Paso Animal Services, creating an outlet of peace and empathy to empower them as they navigate their nursing education and learn to empathize with patients.
“They're doing something that they can actually see the good from, and that's a hard thing,” said Shalla Copeland, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor in nursing and faculty advisor to the association. “As you're learning to be a nurse, you want to help, but you don't always have the ability at this point to do so. But with Animal Services, they've actually been able to help, and they see the good out of that.”
Members of the organization volunteer two to three times a month with Rescue Runners, a program from El Paso Animal Services that allows community members to walk and run with shelter dogs and to come together for monthly events benefitting the dogs at the shelter. Through their “Muttathon,” they help dogs relieve stress and get some exercise outside of the shelter.
“Walking shelter dogs while their kennel is cleaned allows them to get a break from the high stress environment the shelter can be,” said Catherine Arreola, nursing student and treasurer of the TNSA’s UTEP chapter. “Understanding that these animals may be scared in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people gives us the opportunity to empathize with these animals and give them some form of temporary distraction and comfort.”
That experience translates to the nursing profession, a field that requires high levels of empathy during times of stress and urgency. TNSA students have found volunteering with animals a good way to put this attribute into practice.
“In the nursing field, we see patients and families through some of the most vulnerable times of their lives,” Arreola said. “Our experience in volunteering for events such as the Rescue Runners helps us show compassion and empathy for our patients to establish a trusting and therapeutic nurse-patient relationship.”
The idea came to fruition when former UTEP nursing students, one who routinely volunteered with animals and one who worked as a veterinarian technician, presented the idea to Copeland, noting the positive impact in the community and for the mental well-being of the students.
“They're doing some good in a very non-stressful way because even when we send them out to health fairs and other events, that can still be kind of stressful,” Copeland said. “This way, it really helps them kind of decompress a bit and at the same time, of course, it helps with the animals. So, they're learning not just empathy, but I really like to say compassion, because of it. And it's nice for them to have an opportunity where they interact with each other outside of school.”
The TNSA is open to nursing students enrolled in the College of Nursing at UTEP. For more information, visit https://minetracker.utep.edu/organization/texasnursingstudentsassociationutepchapter.