The best part of Kayla Doerr’s job is working with residents at Powell Valley Care Center, she said.

“They each have a little story to tell and it’s just interesting, seeing how they were, and how they are,” she said. “A lot of times, they make your day.”

Doerr recently celebrated her 40th anniversary at the care center, where she’s seen two remodels and the 1997 move to the current facility on the west side of the Powell Valley Healthcare campus.

Doerr began her work as a nurse in the care center in 1976. At the time, it was called Powell Nursing Home, located east of the hospital, where The Heartland is today.

Doerr said she took the job after she and her husband came back from Salt Lake City, where he went to school.

Since then, Doerr said she’s really never considered anything else.

“When I first tried it, it just felt like home to me,” she said.

Some of the residents she’s gotten to know still stand out in Doerr’s memory. She recalls Christmas a couple of years ago, when Santa came to visit the residents. A lady who hadn’t responded to people before did respond then, and that was a special moment, she said.

Doerr’s typical workday starts at 6:30 a.m. with a report from the previous shift, then she hands out morning medications.

“Then we have treatments, and we get in contact with doctors if a problem needs to be addressed.”

After that, there are noon medications, blood-sugar checks for residents with diabetes, and labs to deal with.

“The days go by really fast,” she said.

She usually leaves at 3 p.m.

“I used to work 12-hour shifts, but I’m starting to feel my age,” she said.

Doerr said she’ll probably retire in a year or so, since her husband retired two years ago.

“It’s going to be a big adjustment for me, I think,” she said.

Doerr said her 40 years at the care center “went by so fast.”

“I can’t hardly believe it’s been that long. Every job has its ups and downs, but I’ve never really thought about working someplace else,” she said.