The Waiting Room

Hello, everyone.

You won't hear your names being called.

It's noisy already.

Please talk soft, but keep talking.

All that was here before was her, them.

Not him.

Not them.

Don't even talk to me about that.

No.

There's no way.

There's only two staples on his head.

It's stapled into his head.

Married?

Single?

I'm married.

No, not you.

Her.

Married.

Marry, marry.

We need her to talk.

Can she talk?

Oh, no English speaking.

I'm here to interpret for her.

Oh, man.

I'm trying to get some, uh... trying to get some help

for my knee, man.

But my insurance ran out, so I'm in here today.

But it's a process, though.

You feel me?

You go to school with him?

I used to.

Go say hi.

No, because I don't remember his name.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Sanchez, last call.

No, you can't make an appointment.

This is... you have to wait for the same day

in emergency services.

No appointment.

.

FEMALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): Going to be up here all day.

FEMALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): Don't say that.

I'm just saying.

You have a long wait.

You have to bring your blankets, your dinner, your

lunch, and all that.

Everything, honey.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Hey, guy.

Come on, sit with me.

You want to see the doctor today, huh?

How long has it been since you've

taken diabetes medicine?

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): Uh, like two days.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Two days?

Why haven't you taken it in two days?

Because I ain't got none.

Well, why weren't you here before you ran out, sweet

pumpkin pie?

You know you need your medicine to live.

You tripping.

I am tripping.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): You know it.

You got to love yourself better than that, baby.

Come on, now.

We got plenty of medicine here for you.

My dad even got on me this morning when I woke up.

He said, what you doing?

I say, I'm injured.

I'm going to shower, get dressed, and I'm

going to the doctor.

Because these spasms is hitting so hard.

My chest is killing me.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Yep, the way you walking in here, you

know you need to have been here.

There you go, baby.

Now, tell me your last name.

Escoval.

Don't you spell it for me, I can spell.

You know, I get hundreds of names a day, and I take pride

in being able to spell every one of them, no matter from

what country.

You know I can't spell everything.

I try.

OK, Mr. Escoval.

From what?

A gunshot wound.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): What was it... where did it go in?

It came out.

It went here and came out my mouth.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Wow.

It missed your carotid artery?

Yeah, it missed everything.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Woo.

Do you give testimony to somebody?

Mm hmm.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you do.

God had a plan for you.

I haven't had a drink in 10 years.

I've had two sisters and a brother that died.

My dog, I got from a puppy, that was 15 years old died.

My grandmother just died.

My mother got ran over.

Even without that, I've had anxiety.

Hi, baby.

She can't speak.

Her tonsils are too...

Her tonsils are...

Swollen.

Swell all up?

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): We don't know what's wrong.

It's some kind of infection because I can smell her breath

real bad.

Oh, is it back way back here?

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): Mm-hmm.

So do they... they don't have to do any tonsil

work on her, do they?

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): I don't know what they have to do.

You don't even know what's wrong yet.

I know.

I'm so nervous, I don't know what to do.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Because you're papa, you be nervous.

It's OK.

I'm so nervous.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): That's what daddy's do.

They're nervous because they take care of their loved ones.

I know.

I just wanted her to get seen as soon as possible.

That's why I was concerned.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): They will.

There always is some wait.

It's the first time I've gone

almost a year without a job.

I'm used to having those benefits, you know?

That's how important a job is, to be able to have somebody

look at her as soon as possible.

And it just seems like... it just seems like a letdown when

you have to just depend on somebody to help you out when

you're not having the means to do it yourself the right way.

It's just, OK, I'm glad that there's a way to

provide to help out.

But I wish there would have been another way

for me to do this.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): The heart rate is really high.

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): Yeah.

It's pounding, like that.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): Because she's full of fever.

I can feel it.

You got a whole radio station, 103.4.

See, they got a radio station in there, girl.

You are really hot.

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): 103?

That's scary.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): No.

Say, young lady.

She's going to be OK, big papa.

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): When they say 105, 106, you got to

worry, right?

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): How are you going to stand there and talk

about it like that, over her little head?

MALE SPEAKER (OFF SCREEN): Oh, OK.

All right.

NURSE (OFF SCREEN): You be cool with it.

You supposed to be the, the shield, OK?

I'm a little nervous.

Highland Emergency.

This is Veronica.

Because this is an emergency department, doctors can't

write prescriptions without actually

seeing you as a patient.

I know.

I know, but like I said, our doctors

rotate, you know, daily.

All right.

So starting off from the top.

Room 1 is a 35-year-old female.

Came in a long time ago with flu-like symptoms.

2 is going.

Bed 3, 61-year-old female who comes in off her meds for 3

days and chest pains for 3 days intermittently.

Bed 10, room 11, room 15.

22 is signed out to me.

Sore throat that I just need to say hi to.

People who got into the ER back when it

was first starting chose ER because of the TV show, or the

media portrayal of it as an intense, high adrenaline,

nonstop action world.

I think yes, the gunshot to the chest where you get to put

in chest tubes and do all the critical care stuff that

really gets your heart pumping.

But I'll tell you what, refilling someone's diabetes

and high blood pressure medicines is also a tremendous

opportunity to prevent serious sickness.

And if I refill someone's medicines, he might not come

back and sit in the waiting room next month.

So these.

That's empty.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

Got something in there.