Hospitals brace for IV, dialysis fluid shortages after Helene shuts down NC producer
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Hurricane Helene Aftermath
Hurricane Helene swept across the Southeast, causing major flooding and destruction throughout North Carolina. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer about Hurricane Helene and the aftermath, particularly in Western North Carolina.
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As a key IV fluid manufacturer in the North Carolina mountains works to rebuild after Hurricane Helene, medical facilities around the country are bracing for shortages.
A McDowell County plant, operated by Baxter Healthcare Corp., is closed due to flooding. Heavy equipment can’t reach the site because of a bridge failure that may take weeks to repair.
Until then, Baxter is limiting what its customers can order according to available inventory and medical necessity.
IV products that will be rationed include:
- Saline: Used to rehydrate patients and replace electrolytes.
- Dextrose: A sugar solution used when patients are dehydrated or have low blood sugar. (Saline and dextrose are also used in combination with other drugs that need to administered by IV.)
- Dialysis solutions: Used to treat patients with kidney failure.
Baxter, which opened its North Carolina plant in 1972, says it is the largest manufacturer of these solutions in the United States.
The American Hospital Association says before the storm, the plant produced 1.5 million bags of IV fluid daily — 60% of the nation’s supply.
Gregory Pauly, president of Duke University Hospital, said on Friday that teams across the university’s health system are impacted by the shortage.
“Our teams have been working to assess inventory, deploy conservation strategies, and triage future distribution in an equitable manner across the health system,” Pauly said in a statement shared with The News & Observer.
“At this time, we are making case-by-case assessments of our ability to safely perform certain surgeries and procedures going into the weekend and next week.”.
The Food and Drug Administration said last week it was monitoring the situation and working with Baxter to try to increase production at its other facilities as well as trying to find other sources of the fluids. But as of Sunday, the FDA had not declared a shortage.
1 foot of rain fell on NC health care plant
Baxter’s IV manufacturing plant is located in the North Cove township near Marion, a heavily damaged area that was lashed with rain when the remnants of Hurricane Helene swept through Sept. 27.
The state climate office reports more than 12 inches of rain fell on the area in just three days.
Baxter said a levee breach allowed water to permeate its plant.
Roads leading to the site are damaged, but Baxter said Thursday that 500 workers were already at the plant working on repairs.
“We expect this number to double in the week ahead,” the company said in a news release.
A bridge failure has prevented heavy equipment from reaching the plant, and made it impossible to deliver inventory that wasn’t damaged in the storm.
“We expect a permanent bridge will be installed by the Army Corps of Engineers and North Carolina Department of Transportation in the coming weeks,” the company said in the Thursday update.
Baxter reports it’s been able to contact most of its 2,500 employees, and that it’s established assistance center a few miles from the plant. There, staff can take showers, wash clothes, charge devices and receive food, water and other basic supplies.
“We will spare no resource — human or financial — to resume production and help ensure patients and providers have the products they need,” president and CEO José Almeida said in a news release the morning after the storm.
The company said it will work with the FDA to “leverage Baxter’s global manufacturing network” until the Marion facility is back operating at 100% capacity.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2024 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Hospitals brace for IV, dialysis fluid shortages after Helene shuts down NC producer."
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