Hurricanes Have ‘Dramatic’ Impact on Hospital IV Fluid Supply
Devastating hurricanes are having what’s described as a “dramatic” impact on supplies of medical fluids at local hospitals.
North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale has had to conserve its supply of intravenous and sterile fluids due to Hurricane Helene damaging a plant in North Carolina.
Officials at North Memorial Health are also concerned about the impact of Hurricane Milton on a facility in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“The thing we are most nervous about right now is that the B Braun facility that produces another 23 percent of the IV fluids for the U.S. market is located in Daytona Beach, Florida, so on the East Coast of Florida, but just based on the size of the hurricane, there could certainly be an impact to that facility as well,” said Mike Waldt, system director of pharmacy at North Memorial Health.
An update from B Braun on Thursday indicated the facility was “largely unscathed.”
Hurricane Helene, however, damaged the Baxter plant in North Carolina. Waldt said that plant supplies roughly 60 percent of IV fluids in the U.S. North Memorial Health also relies primarily on the Baxter plant, Waldt said.
As a result, North Memorial Health Hospital has had to conserve its IV and sterile fluid supply, but, so far, hasn’t had to postpone many surgeries, only a very small number.
“We’ve canceled a very small number of procedures that use an incredibly large amount of fluid for a single case,” said Waldt.
Other hospital systems around the Twin Cities, such as M Health Fairfiew and Allina Health, have postponed some elective surgeries.
Waldt said Baxter is slowly increasing fluid allocations to hospitals after the FDA allowed the manufacturer to import fluids from its facilities abroad.
“We’ve been lucky enough with the way that we were positioned from a supply standpoint and the way we have implemented conservation methods,” said Waldt.
