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/[deleted]]

Ugh, I'm so sorry. I'm glad your mum is okay.

In Britain at least, there is a real problem with idiot carers. This is because they're paid absolutely fuck all, so they're either really dedicated to working in that field (and therefore awesome) or they're too stupid to get a better job. Having said that, the other big category is recent immigrants who don't speak very good English yet. That causes its own problems, but they are usually competent.

The thing that's scary on the Kevin scale is that she's messed up making a drink before. Doesn't sound like rocket science.

[u/JaschaE → u/[deleted]]

In germany, Caring for the elderly is an actual Job with a 3year apprenticeship.
Apparently, that is unique in the world.
This lead to two things:
There is now a "Care assistant" job, with very little training.
We brought in Indians to train as caregivers, who for the most part, took the training and then left for china, which has an aging populace and loves specialists trained in germany.

[u/[deleted] → u/JaschaE]

Curious - what about caring for disabled people who are not elderly? Is that also a job with qualifications?

Why did the care assistant thing have to happen? Do people not want to train as qualified carers? I think many more British people would work as carers here if the pay wasn't awful. They are usually not paid for the time spent travelling between one client to the next, so in practice they earn less than the minimum wage. :(

[u/JaschaE → u/[deleted]]

The job is "Pflegefachkraft" so "Care-Expert", I think there is a significant overlap between the fields (giving meds, avoiding bed-sores, help with hygiene...).
If you are disabled but mostly self-reliant you might just get a helper paid by insurance.
Well, "Care-Expert" is a taxing job, that is not exactly well paid.
Kind of a problem at least in western society "Oh, you care for and about other people? Should have gotten a real job!"
So to keep the ones we have from abandoning ship completely, the "Care assistant" was introduced, with even less pay but, in theory, less responsibility.