MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota hospitals are scrambling for solutions after the manufacturer of the majority of its IV fluids supply shuttered due to flooding in wake of Hurricane Helene. Baxter produces 60% of the IV fluids, which treat hydration and are essential for surgeries, distributed to U.S.
hospitals , but its facility in hard hit western North Carolina is closed indefinitely. The company, in a statement , said it's working "around the clock" with state and federal officials to survey the scope of the damage and implement a plan "to bring the plant back online as quickly as possible to help mitigate supply disruption to patients." But hospitals like North Memorial and others in Minnesota are already feeling the squeeze of the short supply, a week and a half after the storm devastated parts of the Southeast.
"It's been a pretty dramatic impact for us," Mike Waldt, system director of pharmacy for North Memorial Health said. He noted that another Baxter facility was hit in 2017 from another hurricane, but only certain kinds of IV fluids were impacted. This shortage, he said, is more extensive.
"This time around, it's every IV fluid that's impacted. And so it's not as easy for us to be able to just shift things around to use a different product," Waldt said. "I can't think of a time where we had to deal with all IV fluids all at once.
" Waldt said North Memorial hadn't postponed any elective procedures because of the shortage, but have adjusted their protocol to conserve what .