Erin Shirk

Degreed Professional Manager

I was born in Minnesota and have lived all throughout the Midwest. I graduated from Ottumwa High School in Ottumwa, Iowa and attended college at Indian Hills Community College where I finished my Associate of Arts and Sciences degree. I worked in home health care for several years prior to returning to college to be a teacher. I earned my Bachelor of Science in Education with an emphasis in Special Education from Rockford University in Rockford, Illinois, and upon graduating began my teaching career at a middle school in Rockford. I then moved to Moberly, MO where I spent the next 12 years working as a middle school Special Education teacher and then an English Language Arts teacher. After leaving the teaching profession, I joined the Palmer’s Home Care team as a Degreed Professional Manager. This position marries my experience in home health care and special education and allows me the ability to make an impact on a community that is so dear to my heart.

For most of my life, I have been in positions to understand and support people with learning differences, and for the past 23 years as a mother, as well. I have two children. My son is an adult individual with unique talents and abilities that is learning how to be more independent through services that are offered through Palmer’s Home Care, and I am proud to be working for a company that has helped my son in such extraordinary ways. My daughter attends college at Truman State University and is majoring in Psychology with hopes of being a clinical counselor for children with special needs in the future. In our family, we have focused on redefining what “successful” means, and we strive in our personal and professional lives to do whatever we can to help support people who need a little assistance to achieve their own picture of success.