Mirror image — Identical twins serve together in Cape Girardeau clinic

Krisman and Kaylee Eakin began working as medical assistants at Cape Girardeau's EBO MD direct primary care clinic Sept. 7.

Aside from their varying choice of hairstyles and a conscious decision to wear different colored scrubs to work each day, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell the two of them apart.

Well, there may be one foolproof way.

One of the 22-year-old sisters has a dimple in her right cheek, while the other has one in her left cheek.

"We like to say we're a mirror image of the other," said Kaylee, younger than Krisman by 2 minutes.

The Eakin twins are graduates of Poplar Bluff (Missouri) High School.

Their sporting interests are similarly identical. Both ran track and field for the Mules and competed in the long jump and the 4-by-400 relay, among other events.

They chose different post-prep school paths after leaving the Butler County K-12. This past spring, each collected an undergraduate degree — Kaylee from Southeast Missouri State University and Krisman from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.

"I wanted to get away (from Southeast Missouri) a little bit but didn't want to get too far away," said Krisman, adding the break from her twin "was really good for us both."

"We do have different personalities," Kaylee said. "Krisman takes the lead on things, she knows what she wants, and I'm more of a 'go with the flow, either way works' kind of person."

The Eakin sisters have a strong connection to EBO. Their mother, Mandy Eddy, is director of the company's Poplar Bluff clinic.

Same field, different emphases

The twins plan to start school next summer to become physician assistants, but their paths forward are not, for lack of a better word, identical.

"I'm more interested in dermatology at the moment," Kaylee said.

"I have an interest in pathology, in autopsies, but I also want a field where there is human interaction, so direct primary care seems a good setting for me, but I'm not really sure," Krisman added.

Reality of twindom

"Being with each other for 22 years, we think the same, and with a single look we can tell what the other is thinking," Kaylee noted.

"We always have each other and we don't have to do anything alone," added Krisman, whose first name is a combination of her father's, Chris, and her mother's, Mandy.

Asked what is challenging about living and working with an identical twin, Kaylee was quick with a reply.

"Being together all the time," she said.

"Sometimes we don't get enough space from one another and we do argue and bicker — but not as much as when we were in high school," added big sister Krisman.

"Kaylee and Krisman are truly an asset to our practice," said Tony Thompson, EBO MD co-founder and CEO. "They bring great enthusiasm to the office and to the care of our patients."