CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Hospitals and standalone ERs across the United States have been heavily impacted by an IV solution shortage caused by Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene forced Baxter International's North Cove plant in North Carolina, a facility that produces 60 percent of the United States' saline, sterile water and peritoneal dialysis solutions, to shut down because of unprecedented flooding.
Hospitals from Florida to Virginia to Michigan to Washington have been forced to conserve.
CHRISTUS Spohn Hospitals spokeswoman Gloria Madera said Thursday their hospitals would not be affected by the shortage, as far as she was aware, and Physicians PremiER Managing Partner Dr. Lonnie Schwirtlich said his group's supply is not dependent on any of the 1.5 million bags produced by the North Cove plant.
Corpus Christi Medical Center spokeswoman Lisa Robertson issued this statement:
We have what we currently need. We’ll continue to monitor the situation, and we have contingency plans to help ensure we maintain adequate supplies.
Hurricane Milton threatened to further add to the strain as it eyed operations at another leading facility, this one in Daytona Beach, Florida. While the facility shut down as the storm approached, it re-opened Friday, according to the Associated Press.
Baxter International issued a release Wednesday stating that it hopes to have production at 90-100 percent by the end of this year, but that until then, it is adjusting allocation amounts for the facilities it serves, which would limit what they can order based on medical necessity and previous orders, in order to ensure there's enough to go around.