Alma Ortiz was an intern at Grey Sloan Memorial. She later transferred her residency so she could work at the Catherine Fox Foundation.
History[]
Internship[]
Due to the growing Covid-19 pandemic, Alma and her fellow medical school graduates were sent to their residency programs earlier than the standard start date. They arrived on the first day and were welcomed reluctantly by Tom Koracick. When he learned there were two Drs. Ortiz, he suggested Big O and Little O as nicknames. He then left them tape and a marker to make name tags for themselves before leaving them.
Alma was supposed to be in the ER, but when one intern, Jenson, quit after two hours, she ended up on discharges. She refused to discharge a patient to a nursing home that was overrun with Covid cases, saying she wanted to speak to the patient's doctor, Meredith, before doing anything further.
At the end of the day, Richard Webber took Alma, along with her daughter, Sara, and Reza Khan, into an OR, where he gave them a modified version of his traditional intern speech. He told them he'd make sure they learned as much as possible and promised them they'd get through it together. ("My Happy Ending")
When Marcella and Veronica Diaz ended up at the hospital at the same time, Alma ended up treating Veronica. Alma comforted Veronica when she expressed regret at having passed COVID-19 to her mother, assuring her that her mother would never regret hugging her. Later, when both mother and daughter declined and needed ventilators, and only one was available, Alma said the protocol was to use it on the person with a better chance of survival, meaning Veronica. With that decided, they put Veronica on the ventilator. However, Maggie then had an idea to use a y-shaped tube to split the ventilator power so both of them could use a single machine. ("Breathe")
When the Catherine Fox Foundation sponsored a free COVID testing day at the hospital, Alma helped swab patients as they came through. She became irritated when she learned that Jackson was renting hotel rooms for patients who tested positive but had difficulty isolating from family members who weren't infected. She told him that him booking hotel rooms at full rate ousted charities who were renting them at a discounted rate to help unhoused people. He ended up having her make a list of things she would do if she had the capital, as she had the knowledge of how to help people most effectively. ("Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right")
Transferring[]
Alma later transferred her residency to Boston so she could take a job with the Catherine Fox Foundation. ("Some Kind of Tomorrow")
Relationships[]
Familial[]
She and her daughter went through medical school at the same time and matched to Grey Sloan Memorial together.
Career[]
She was a surgical intern at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. When Jackson Avery took over the Catherine Fox Foundation, she transferred to Boston so she could take a job with the Foundation. ("Some Kind of Tomorrow") Prior to going to medical school, she was a social worker for 20 years.
Gallery[]
Episodic[]
Appearances[]
| Grey's Anatomy, Season 17 | |||||
| #01 | "All Tomorrow's Parties" | #07 | "Helplessly Hoping" | #13 | "Good as Hell" |
| #02 | "The Center Won't Hold" | #08 | "It's All Too Much" | #14 | "Look Up Child" |
| #03 | "My Happy Ending" | #09 | "In My Life" | #15 | "Tradition" |
| #04 | "You'll Never Walk Alone" | #10 | "Breathe" | #16 | "I'm Still Standing" |
| #05 | "Fight the Power" | #11 | "Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right" | #17 | "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" |
| #06 | "No Time for Despair" | #12 | "Sign O' the Times" | ||