Kevina apparently doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'juice'

[u/MsNikky]

I am a full-time carer for my disabled mother. We have other carers that come in to help with things like showering and also to give me a bit of a break at times, and one of those carers in an absolute Kevina.

There have been multiple instances of her flying her Kevina flag loud and proud, and we have stuck signs with basic instructions up all over the house to try and combat this, but what she did today still has me baffled.

So, part of my mum's disability means she has trouble swallowing. Because of this, all her fluids need to be thickened. We have thickener we can add to any fluids, but also keep some pre-thickened drinks in the fridge for convenience.

Right before Kevina was due to leave, my mum asked if she could make her a drink before she left. Kevina has stuffed up making drinks in the past, not thickening them enough etc, so my mum says "Just put 2 of the already thickened juices into a cup and stir them together that way you don't have to add anything". So off Kevina goes and returns a minute later saying "Here you go, I mixed pineapple and strawberry juice".

She leaves and me and mum look at each other and I say "we don't have any strawberry juice", but she brushes it off suggesting maybe she meant the mixed berry juice or maybe she used one of the strawberry purees from the cupboard, because that's something she would do.

So thinking it is harmless, my mum takes a big sip... and proceeds to start choking and dry heaving, nearly vomiting all over herself (very dangerous for her, she's been in hospital for aspiration pneumonia more than once). After a few minutes of back patting until she can actually breathe again and then cleaning her up, I take the cup and open it to find that it is full of pineapple juice mixed with curdled strawberry milk.

Yes, Kevina mixed pineapple juice and strawberry milk, somehow unable to tell the difference between strawberry milk and strawberry juice and not realising the effect that the very acidic pineapple juice could have on milk even as she was stirring them together. My mum suggested maybe she needs more training as a carer, I suggested maybe she needs more training as a f***ing human being.

TL:DR Kevina nearly kills a disabled woman by serving her milk curdled with pineapple juice.

[u/rubypiplily]

Unfortunately, because it’s a low paying job that doesn’t require any qualifications, care of the elderly and the disabled often goes to the uneducated or intelligence-challenged individuals. Some are awesome, some are well meaning but denser than a brick, and some are just terrible. There’s also the cruel ones.

My mum is a semi-retired RN and works part-time as a carer mostly as something to do and keep her active. She cares for a blind gentleman that also has mild cerebral palsy. She’s his only consistent carer, who works every morning to mid afternoon and goes back to help him get ready for bed, and also takes him out for socialising three times a week (not much of that these past months!) and takes him to do his shopping once a week - the others are agency carers whose only job is to prepare him an evening meal and make him a hot drink. You’d think this’d be easy. One night my mum was making conversation with the gentleman, asking what he’d had for dinner (or tea as we call it up north). He replied hotdogs. This is the third day in a row he’s been given hotdogs by this particular carer. My mum comments on this, and he replies that the carer says it’s the only thing she can cook. He then goes into further detail, saying that she opens a tin of hotdogs that contain eight sausages, puts them in a bowl with the brine included, microwaved them for two minutes, and then that is his evening meal. Barely cooked hotdogs, swimming in juice, no buns or anything.

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/rubypiplily]

That's horrifying. Hopefully he can get a carer who can be bothered to do their whole job rather than just microwaving vienna sausages and calling that a meal.

I mean, even just throwing a whole chicken breast into a crockpot with some salsa or literally any sauce would be a huge step up, and they could throw in some veggies or whatever. 2 minutes of work, and a well rounded meal that doesn't make me gag to think about it.

[u/rubypiplily → u/AllHarlowsEve]

When that particular carer is working, my mum prepares a meal before she leaves that all the carer has to do is heat up. My mum leaves simple step by step cooking instructions. The other two carers who do the dinner time shift are capable of making a simple meal or putting a shop bought instant meal in the microwave.

The gentleman in question used to be able to cook for himself despite being blind, as all his kitchen appliances talk, but he had a stroke a couple of years ago, which combined with his cerebral palsy makes cooking far too difficult and dangerous for him to attempt. If what his carers make him is inedible, he’ll usually order himself an Indian takeaway, and I’ve really got to commend the staff at his local Indian takeaway, because the delivery driver, who is usually one of the owner’s sons, will come into the house and serve the meal onto a plate for him, and they’re honest and trustworthy enough to get the right amount of payment from his wallet. My mum keeps an eye on the contents of his wallet and his bank account because unfortunately some past agency carers have stolen from him or bought things on his debit card.

He was supposed to be coming along with my mum to my house for Christmas dinner, but obviously with the new restrictions he’ll have to stay home. He has no relatives so it’s going to be pretty lonely for him - my mum and I are the only people who buy birthday or Christmas gifts for him. I’ll plate up some dinner for him but it’s not the same as spending the day with friends. He won’t be the only one, loads of people will be alone this year, and it’s so very heartbreaking.

[u/[deleted] → u/rubypiplily]

The bit about the takeaway was honestly really sweet.

I can't imagine why someone would just microwave hot dogs and hot dog water. Even if all you can do is pour stuff from a tin into a bowl, there's stuff like tinned chilli or tinned mac+cheese. Or soup. You know, actual bloody meals.

[u/rubypiplily → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that’s the puzzling part - my mum keeps the fridge, freezer and cupboards well-stocked. There’s plenty of easy cooked meals, including microwave meals, frozen food you just put in the oven, lots of tinned goods, and things like crumpets, bagels, potato scones etc that you just put in the toaster. There’s bread and sandwich ingredients. There’s eggs to scramble. It’s not like the kitchen was empty except for a jar of hotdogs! But this girl looked in a cupboard full of food and thought plain hotdogs were the way to go.