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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: Serenna Sellars grateful to be working close to home community

Sellars studied the nursing program at Thompson Rivers University
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Serenna Sellars, seen here with her horse, works as a primary care registered nurse at the Williams Lake First Nations Wellness Centre. (Photo submitted)

Having grown up north of Williams Lake in Deep Creek, Serenna Sellars, a registered nurse at the new First Nations Wellness Centre in Williams Lake is grateful to be working so close to the community she grew up in. She said it’s allowed her to connect and form relationships with people, even sharing stories together.

Sellars, a part of the Xatśūll Nation, grew up with her parents, Kelly and Jeannine Sellars, and her brother on a ranch in Deep Creek. Her summers were spent putting up hay, riding dirt bikes, horses or fishing in the Fraser River near the Xatśūll Heritage Village with her brother.

After graduating from Lake City Secondary School, she attended Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake before transferring to Kamloops to finish the last two years of her nursing degree. Sellars said the journey was challenging, often doubting whether she’d make it through school or had the skill and ability to become a nurse. Still, she pushed herself, graduating in the spring of 2022.

“Continuing to persevere through [school] and be resilient through all of the challenges, hard work and long hours was probably one of my greatest accomplishments,” Sellars said.

After graduating as a registered nurse, she took a temporary six-month position at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in home health. Eventually, she met Jamie Tanis, the clinical manager at the First Nations Wellness Centre, who encouraged Sellars to apply for a position. Despite feeling she didn’t have enough work experience for the job, she went ahead and applied and began working for them in January 2023.

She works as a primary care registered nurse and does everything from basic vital sign assessments to helping patients with virtual appointments. She loves working at the FNWC, saying that it’s been “a really good experience” and that everyone has welcomed her.

FNWC is the first First Nations primary care in the Interior Region and “offers excellent, culturally safe, integrated primary health care services for First Nations within the Williams Lake area, including 15 First Nations communities,” according to their news release.

Sellars explained how FNWC has a holistic approach to health and wellness, including traditional medicine and events such as weekly beading classes offered by an elder in the community.

She’s proud to be a First Nations woman and to have stayed the course and been resilient through school, reminding her of who she is and the qualities she has to be a nurse. Despite moving away for school, being in an entirely new environment and making new friends, her family, friends and community supported her, to whom she offered extended gratitude toward.

She also mentioned her aunt, Sally Sellars, who is a registered professional forester, as someone who inspired her to push through the challenges of school and see the fruition of her hard work.

“You’re going to make mistakes but part of that is learning from those mistakes and becoming better,” Sellars said while explaining how hard she was on herself during school.

However, she has learned to let go of perfection and keep going while also practising self-care, something she advises others to do.

For her own self-care, she loves spending time outside being active or wandering through a field riding her horse, Cheyenne, taking in the peace and beauty of the countryside. She also enjoys playing soccer and baseball.

READ MORE: New First Nations Wellness Centre in Williams Lake first of its kind in B.C.

READ MORE: Pop-up education overdose prevention site start of something new for Williams Lake


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Kim Kimberlin, Local Journalism Initiative

About the Author: Kim Kimberlin, Local Journalism Initiative

I joined Black Press Media in 2022, and have a passion for covering topics on women’s rights, 2SLGBTQIA+ and racial issues, mental health and the arts.
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