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

This section presents terms and phrases that are central to understanding the text and may present a challenge to the reader. Use this list to create a vocabulary quiz or worksheet, to prepare flashcards for a standardized test, or to inspire classroom word games and other group activities.

1. evacuation (noun):

in medicine, removal of patients and staff from an endangered area

“In preparation for evacuation, these men and women had been lifted by their hospital sheets, carried down flights of stairs from their rooms, and placed in a corner near an ATM and a planter with wilting greenery.” (Prologue, Page 3)

2. palliative (adjective):

dedicated to the simple relief of pain in patients with terminal illnesses

“This would be no ordinary comfort, not the palliative care he had learned about in a weeklong course that certified him to teach how to relieve symptoms in patients who prioritized this goal of treatment above all others.” (Prologue, page 9)

3. hurricane (noun):

a severe oceanic storm in or Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans caused by low atmospheric pressure and high water temperatures, with sustained winds of 74 miles per hour and above; known as a typhoon in the Western Pacific Ocean

 “For certain New Orleanians, Memorial Medical Center was the place you went to ride out each hurricane that the loop current of the Gulf of Mexico launched like a pinball at the city.