BOUNTIFUL — She was telling a story to a group of children at her feet.

It was 2 a.m., and Brook Whipple, a certified nurse’s assistant, was making part of his rounds at the North Canyon Care Center in Bountiful. He stood outside her door and watched as one of the elderly Alzheimer’s residents he took care of shared a story with the children only she could see.

“It was beautiful,” Whipple said. “This woman had spent her life as a musician, and wrote wonderful children’s music. She was there at two o’clock in the morning and in her mind she could see and interact with these children.”

At different points of the story-telling, the woman would occasionally stop to mind one of the children and then pick up the story right where she had left off. After a few more minutes, the story came to an end — and the children were invited back at another time. The women went to bed and fell sound asleep.

The recounting of “the story” is one of the moments that stand out in Whipple’s decade-long career working in the extended care profession.

“I was born when my mother was in her late 40s,” Whipple said, now 57. “I was the youngest in my family, and I grew up with older people — and I have always felt comfortable with being around older people. This has been a wonderful career move for me.”

Prior to becoming a CNA, Whipple worked in the financial industry. After taking care of his aunt during the last months of her life it became clear to Whipple that working on the front lines in healthcare was what he was meant to do.

It isn’t always easy. In fact, on some nights for Whipple it can be frustrating having to lift, direct and dress people. There are times when patients lose control of their bodily functions and emotions. But it’s all about keeping some simple thoughts in mind for Whipple.

“These are people, human beings,” Whipple said. “They are not just numbers or a chart. They have pasts, lives and families. Many of the people I have worked with over the years have amazing lives. It’s respecting them as people that helps on those tough times.”

One woman, whom no staff members could reach, recently continued to treat Whipple with love and respect. Whipple couldn’t figure out how this older woman could switch from being so mean and nasty to respectful and kind when he entered her room. Finally Whipple asked the woman why.

“It was so simple,” Whipple said. “She said, ‘You found my teddy bear.’”

Whipple said he had not given it much thought but this woman had a favorite teddy bear, but it had been moved from her room. She was devastated, so Whipple kept an eye out for it, finding and returning it a few weeks later. A small gesture, true, but it put this woman’s world back to some form of normalcy.

“It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but to these people it is,” Whipple said. “You just don’t know what will be that thing that connects you to someone.

“We are here for them.”

David Coles, marketing director at North Canyon, believes it’s people like Whipple who are the heart and soul of the facility. They are those who are on the front lines dealing with the most intimate aspects of the lives of the residents.

“The nurses and CNAs are the people families of residents rely on,” Coles said. “These people get to know the residents better than anyone else because they are with them the most.

“It takes a very special person to be an effective nurse or CNA in a long-term facility.”

It’s the job Angela Pierson, who works as a registered nurse for Thatcher Brook Rehabilitation, helps men and women train for. Pierson trains CNAs and admits it is not a job for everyone. The most important qualification is the ability to connect with others.

“You have to be able to communicate with the families and the resident, and it is definitely the hardest part of the job,” Pierson said. “You have to have compassion and honesty and understand how difficult this part of someone’s life is for them and their families.”

Perhaps even more important from the perspective of the family and resident is being well treated. As one family said, it’s knowing their ailing father is respected and approached with dignity. That was something they looked for when they searched for a long-term health care facility.

Pierson also noted that some people only require brief visits to their facilities. These are often individuals who have suffered serious physical ailments and need a stepping-stone from the hospital to the home.

“We had a young man who had come for a while after a broken pelvis,” Pierson said. “He recently came back to show us how well he was doing. It was great to see him.”

Selecting a facility for part of a recovery or as the final part of a person’s life is one of the most important decisions a family will make. And it takes time.

“It is very easy to see through people,” the adult daughter of one resident said. The family asked to have their name not used for the privacy of their father. “There were a few places where you could tell you weren’t being respected, and if we weren’t being treated well it was certainly easy to assume my father wouldn’t be either.

“We know this is his last step in his life, and we want him to be safe, comfortable, respected and…” it was difficult for her to ever utter the words, “…go on, pass away, that it would be a good process. Well, as good as we could hope for. He has lived a wonderful life, has been a man who was strong, independent, the leader of our family, an educator and businessman. It is so hard to see him like this where he is like a child — and it was very hard for us to make this decision, but we know he needs to be in a place that will help him.”

One case was similar for Whipple. He worked very closely with a woman who had been a highly successful part of a major corporation in Utah. To many who just saw her on the floor or in her room she didn’t seem like anyone important. But to those who really knew her past, this was a remarkable human being.

“Everyone just thought she was nuts,” Whipple said. “But she was actually brilliant. Just that part of her was trapped or gone due to her illness.”

Many question why family members would want to spend time visiting a beloved family member in such a terrible state, especially since the sick individual doesn’t recognize them. Whipple has seen it thousands of times: family members talking to a loved one in many respects already gone. But the family and friends return just the same.

“One man who had been married to his wife for 57 years would visit her every day,” Whipple said. “She had no idea he was even there.”

On one day Whipple and the elderly husband spoke at length about the couples’ life. The husband was able to share the good times and experiences about who this shell of a woman in the bed really was. Then he said something Whipple will never forget.

“People ask me why I come here to visit my lovely wife when she doesn’t recognize me or even realize I’m here,” Whipple said. The man went on, “It’s so simple. We’ve been together all these years and I love her. She may not know I’m here, but I do.”