When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005 and devastated the city, there was no lack of heart-wrenching stories. Including at Memorial Medical Center — although what exactly happened there, and the decisions that had to be made by medical personnel during that span, is not widely known.
Journalist Sheri Fink set out to figure out what happened at Memorial in late August and early September of 2005 when dozens of bodies were found under unknown circumstances after flooding had subsided. And through her discoveries she wrote the book, “Five Days At Memorial.” Now, the stories of the desperation the hospital felt when the hurricane hit is unfolding on screen on Apple TV+.
Throughout the series, different viewpoints — from doctors, to nurses, to patients and their families — are shown. And what’s really riveting is the idea that essentially with no plan, no help and virtually no hope on the horizon, medical staff had to play God, and the aftermath that unfolded could be considered as catastrophic as the natural storms that brewed outside of the hospital’s walls.
Stars Vera Farmiga, who plays cancer surgeon Dr. Anna Pou, and Cherry Jones, who plays incident supervisor Susan Mulderick, were drawn to the story based on their characters, and the strengths they had to show during their time at Memorial. Both actresses sat down to dig a little deeper into “Five Days At Memorial.”
