Two Patients, One Name

It is Monday, 8:55 in the morning, the busiest hour at the Riverside Clinic. Ofelia is the new receptionist, and it is only her second day. The waiting room is full, the phone is ringing, and a baby is crying. She looks at her list and calls the next name.

OFELIA: Elvira Sosa? (Two women stand up at the same time. One is about eighty, with a walking stick. The other is about twenty, with big headphones.) OLDER WOMAN: That's me. YOUNGER WOMAN: No, that's me.

OFELIA: Oh. You both have an appointment at nine? BOTH: Yes. OFELIA: Can I see your ID cards, please? (Same first name. Same last name. Same birthday: the 14th of May. But one card says 1944, and the other says 2004.) OFELIA: Well, you were born on the same day, sixty years apart.

OFELIA: Can you tell me why you're here today? OLDER WOMAN: It's my knee. It hurts when I climb the stairs. YOUNGER WOMAN: I have to have a blood test. I can't eat anything before it, and I'm really hungry. OFELIA: OK. You should both sit down for a minute. I need to check the computer.

(On the screen, there are two appointments: "Elvira Sosa, 9:00, Room 2, knee pain" and "Elvira Sosa, 9:00, lab, blood test." In a few minutes, the nurse is going to call "Elvira Sosa," and she might take the wrong one.)

Ofelia opens a drawer and takes out two paper wristbands, a blue one and a yellow one. She puts the blue one on the older woman and the yellow one on the younger woman. Then she writes a note and sticks it on the nurse's door: "Blue: knee, Room 2. Yellow: blood test, lab. Please don't mix them up!"