Krista Johnson has been a home-care provider off and on for 16 years. She spends Mondays and Tuesdays with Nell Bateman, 103, in her Claremont home. The following is an edited interview.

Every time I’ve been with somebody when they go, it’s like a family member dies. It’s very sad, and I think about it for days. It teaches you to embrace life and not take things for granted. But the way I see it, it was meant to be.

You’ve always got to keep hopeful, but the end is inevitable. People come and go. We leave this world just as we came into it, and we need somebody we can feel safe with when it’s time to go.

Starting in the morning, I get her up, make sure her teeth are in, give her breakfast and make sure she gets her medicine. I need to be constantly checking to be sure she’s dry because she can get bedsores. Just like a baby, if they stay in wet drawers, they’re going to get a rash.

I give her a bath and change her sheets every Monday. Nell always says to me, “It’s not like I’m out playing in the mud.” But I like to make sure she’s clean. I do her nails and curl her hair. The little things are what matter most. It definitely gets hard sometimes, especially with people that are bedridden. You’ve got to try to look at things through their eyes. I couldn’t imagine being in bed all the time and still be in high spirits. And people from Nell’s generation are very independent. I understand why she’s the way she is, so it makes it easier for me to be able to handle it.

Nell has a good family and good support, but some families can’t do anything with them. They can’t be in the same room when we’re changing them, or even when they’re dying. A lot of family members can’t even touch them. But we can, so they have us. We hug them and touch them and give them all the care we can.

With this job there’s a fine line. You’ve got to care, but you’ve got to keep something back. You take the best care of them as you can until they leave and you can feel good knowing you made them comfortable and happy until it was their time to go.