Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

by Sheri Fink

While the mayor commanded everyone to leave, many didn’t have cars or other means to do so, and officials knew that the city’s plans to help transport them had significant holes, including a lack of sufficient drivers. Residents who could go on their own were already stuck in traffic on the interstate leading out of town. The Superdome, the giant stadium that hosted the New Orleans Saints football team, was designated as a “shelter of last resort.” New Orleanians who had no way to get out of the city could take a shuttle bus there. Mayor Nagin appealed to one population in particular. “If you have a medical condition, if you’re on dialysis or some other condition, we want you to expeditiously move to the Superdome,” he said. He didn’t mention what kind of help people could expect there. Many tourists whose flights had been canceled had no ability to flee on their own either, and so Nagin’s evacuation order exempted essential hotel workers to serve them. It also exempted essential criminal sheriff’s office workers, who were needed to keep their eyes on prisoners at the parish jail. They, too, were not being moved. A questioner at the press conference asked for a clarification: “People should stay put in the hospitals…or what?” The mayor said he had also exempted hospitals and their workers. People might get hurt in the hurricane. If hospitals closed and turned them away, that would, he said, create “a very dangerous situation.