"This is just a great place to work. It's a hard job, but it's a rewarding job," said Lynda Haffner, a certified nursing assistant at Cooney Home.

Haffner describes her job as "hands-on care" of 12 to 16 residents, from getting them dressed in the morning, to assisting them to breakfast and lunch. She also helps them with trips to the bathroom and puts them to bed for naps in the afternoon.

Haffner also works as a restorative technician, assisting the physical therapist with residents who need help walking or doing range-of-motion exercises.

"We try to keep people as ambulatory as possible," she said.

She's worked at Cooney Home, the county's nursing home, for the past 11 1/2 years.

Prior to that she was a beautician for 17 years and then a CNA at the hospital in Deer Lodge.

What does she like best about her job?

"The residents," she responded, without a second of hesitation. "They each have their own personality.

"They just appreciate everything you do for them," she said. "It is such rewarding work."

She admits that every once in a while she meets a cranky person, but this behavior fades once she learns the person's likes and dislikes.

The hardest part of her job?

"I didn't think ever, ever, ever, ever, I could help with some one passing on," she said.

But now that she's worked closely with residents, "it just seems rewarding and nice to be able to do that."

"It's a fine line to not get overly attached to residents," she said. "You realize most of the residents - you're going to lose them."

It was hard a year ago, when the flu went through the nursing home. "We were losing people right and left," she said. "That's tough on you, when you lose people."

Every three months, a minister holds a memorial service for the residents who have died. It's an opportunity for staff and residents to sit and reminisce about the person, she said.

She'd recommend her job to others, with a caveat.

"It's hard work. It's satisfying and rewarding work if you like working with people.

"You have to care for people. You have to be organized. And you can't mind dirty work."