When Caregiving Becomes Personal: Professional Texas Caregiver Now Cares for Elderly Mother

Road Scholar is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to inspire adults to learn, discover and travel. In 2015, the organization began offering Caregiver Grants to honor the incredible responsibility of older adults like Karen Norrod who serve as family caregivers. Karen, 54, of Round Rock, Texas, applied for and was awarded a grant, and will be attending her first Road Scholar learning adventure to the Grand Canyon in May 2016.

Karen has had an interesting career. She worked as a secretary for the National Institutes of Health and the Computer Sciences Corporation, but she’s most proud of having worked on the Challenger Space Shuttle mission. She’s also proud of losing more than 100 pounds and being named the 2010 Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) Texas State Queen.

Due to the failing health of her parents as well as her own health issues, Karen left her job and took a part-time job as a Certified Nursing Assistant with Senior Helpers and moved into the same apartment complex as her parents in order to be closer to them. Her father, 83, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease several years ago, has since been moved to a local nursing home. Her mother, Rita, 78, still lives in the same apartment in Round Rock, allowing her to be closer to her daughter as well as to regularly visit her husband in the nursing home.

Karen’s mother, while very independent, counts on her daughter to handle her finances and other day-to-day activities. She keeps track of her mother’s checkbook and pays her bills, reviews medical and insurance bills, monitors her phone calls (seniors are sometimes targets of scams) and manages her father’s care at the nursing home. Karen had never been on a Road Scholar program before and learned about the Caregiver Grant online.

“All of my siblings have traveled, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to travel much,” said Karen. “My best friend encouraged me to apply and my family and friends were so excited for me when I received my acceptance letter.”

According to Caregiving in the United States 2015, published by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving, more than 43 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult in the last year. Serving as a caregiver for a loved one can take a physical, emotional and financial toll on the caregiver, which often goes unspoken. Road scholar learning adventures provide caregivers with much needed respite. Expert leaders guide the programs and create a warm and welcoming environment in which participants often foster new lasting friendships.

To learn more about Road Scholar, visit www.roadscholar.org. If you are a caregiver, or know of one who is interested in applying for a Caregiver Grant, visit www.roadscholar.org/caregivergrant.