'This is it': how recently-crowned Selten found her calling in nursing

When the 23-year-old footballer from Blayney considered going into social work back in high school, she knew whether working with humans or animals, she wanted to help someone or something.

Instead of "washing down elephants or feeding giraffes", Miss Selten wound up at TAFE studying nursing full-time and adored a stint in Carcoar in aged care throughout.

Roughly 18 months down the track, falling on International Nurses Day on May 12, she was crowned Orange Health Service's 2024 Enrolled Nurse of the Year.

"My parents have always been the kind of people to go out of their way to help others and I think that really rubbed off on me, seeing how happy people got to feel with a little bit of help," Miss Selten said.

"Once I started doing clinical placements at the hospital, this whole thing opened new doors and I absolutely fell in love with nursing.

"I remember thinking 'this is it' for me; and I still can't believe this is my job."

With the enrolled nurse a familiar face on the surgical ward team, nods also went to Registered Nurse of the Year, Teneka Ridley, as well as Di Harris for Midwife of the Year with the Midwifery Award going to Joy Keefe.

The Deputy Director of Nursing Award went to Jyotsna Thapa while the Campus Nurse Managers crew nabbed Team of the Year.

For Miss Selten, a favourite part of working in health is making big impacts in short amounts of time.

Along with building rapport with Orange hospital patients, she said her "busy and fast-paced" work atmosphere keeps her on her toes.

"You have to be switched on for any and all wards, but in surgical [wards] you're really thinking about the patient as a whole in terms of history, current day and future risks, all at once," she said.

"It's an environment where you can't miss anything at all and I like situations where you have to keep an 'extra eye' on things, because it challenges me every day.

"There's always something different happening, and I think the team you work with in any hospital, especially in an acute ward, there's this bond between everyone that can't be explained."

Like in any medical area in the sector, part of the job includes the inevitable experience of watching peoples' health decline or being present when a patient dies.

Miss Selten is familiar with these downsides now and said it's her colleagues who've been there in those moments.

She doesn't believe she'd have grown the way she has without them.

"All of the doctors and nurses here have absolutely brilliant minds and I don't think I'd be half the nurse I am today if it weren't for them imprinting on me," she said.

"To be recognised for this award is amazing, and at the same time, I'm in awe of the ENs I work with who deserve the same recognition as well.

"I don't think the outside world realises how close you get with your co-workers when you're part of a hospital team, because we do deal with death all of the time and it's not always pretty.

"Every part of the team, whether it be wards-people, security guards or registrars, everyone works together like a well-oiled machine for every single patient."

Which is why balancing downtime and self-care with those hard hours is something Miss Selten puts first now, in comparison to starting out and "constantly saying yes", like pulling double shifts.

Outside of work, she juggles a mix of football codes as her outlet, playing with Orange City Rugby Union Club and Cargo Heelers for league tag, backed up by Orange Vipers rugby league in the spring season.

Any other block of time is spent with her "amazing, supportive partner doing the family rounds", or walking the dogs before a good bout of peace and quiet at home.

"I don't think I could name one thing I don't love about my job, but there's that fine line between loving what you do and hating saying yes when you're mentally and physically burned out," she said.

"Because you always want to say yes, but it's even harder taking care of others when you're not taking care of you, too.

"The team, my colleagues and our patients are always what gets me through, but it's because I'm also resting when I can so I'm the best version of myself.

"My advice for those thinking about getting into this field is absolutely go for it, just make sure you're also finding what resets your own head.

"Because it's the best feeling watching people walk out the door better than what they came in; and I've never felt so much pride in my work."