SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Although South Dakota is more than 1,000 miles away from the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, local health providers are being affected after the shut down of a North Carolina factory that makes critical hospital supplies.
Baxter International supplies 60% of the country’s IV fluid bags. According to the company’s website, Baxter’s North Cove facility in Marion, North Carolina is affected by flooding and is currently closed for production as the company assesses the extent of the impact.
“This situation is incredibly fluid right now, we are learning more literally on an hourly basis as we see what the impact of this fluid shortage is going to be,” said Vice President for Avera Medical Group Clinical Quality, David Basel.
According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Baxter International facility is a critical supplier of intravenous (IV) and peritoneal dialysis solutions, producing 1.5 million bags of the IV solutions used every day in the U.S. Basel said they are doing their best to try and conserve as much fluid as possible.
“Right now we are in a conservation effort so we are making sure no matter how much or little this is going to affect us, we are doing everything we can to use fluid appropriately and only when needed.”
In a statement to KELOLAND News, Sanford Health said “Sanford Health is not currently experiencing any significant shortage of IV fluids in our hospitals and clinics. We continue to monitor supply and are being proactive in conserving our current supply should the shortage persist and begin to impact patient care. At this point we are not postponing any surgeries, including elective surgeries, due to shortages in IV fluids.”
Basel said Avera has been in contact with the state government and the other health systems in the area to coordinate efforts as the shortage continues. He added that one of the blessings from COVID was having additional processes to help deal with shortages.
“We have gotten used to ramping up pretty quickly and adjusting to changing availability,” Basel said. “We have a lot of processes and protocols in place that we can manage if any potential shortages come up again,” said Basel.
He also said at this point the shortage has not been affecting clinical care.
“We have not been having to cancel elective procedures,” Basel said. “In some cases, we have asked our clinicians if it’s something that can wait a couple weeks and would require a lot of fluid that maybe we put it off a couple of weeks until we see how this is going to shake out, but those are very few cases that have been affected.”
The AHA recently asked the Biden Administration to take immediate action to increase the supply of IV solutions for the nation’s hospitals, asking the administration to declare a shortage of sterile IV solutions. Basel said declaring a shortage would allow them to be more flexible with the system.
“We would be able to substitute one sort of fluid for another or even doing some compounding of our own fluid,” Basel said. “It just gives you a little more flexibility in what we can use in what situations, still totally clinically safe, but just gets around some of the regulations that sometimes get in the way.”
With Hurricane Milton approaching, Basel said another thing they are worried about is further disruptions to the supply chain.
“Florida in general is a manufacturing hub for a lot of pharmaceuticals type things. There is another IV fluid plant down in the Florida area that we are watching to see if it becomes affected by Hurricane Milton, it’s too early to say at this point but manufacturing disruptions are always a concern,” said Basel.
Basel said the situation is still very much ongoing.
“Probably won’t be the last time we talk about this because we do find out more all the time,” Basel said. “I would say right now we are in a good spot clinically and we are doing everything we can do to conserve IV fluid without affecting clinical care so that we can be a good steward of this resource going forward.”
