MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina, flooding forced the closure of the major supplier of IV fluids nationwide. Baxter International in Marion, North Carolina, produces 60 percent of the nationwide supply of sterile intravenous fluids.
IV fluids are commonly used to help people recover from dehydration, for burn patients, or for patients with serious injuries. They are vital for people undergoing surgical procedures and to help rehabilitate those with serious infections, such as sepsis.
WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright said they have enacted some emergency procedures in light of the shutdown. Wright said the company has committed to supplying 60 percent of their normal allotment through the end of October.
“Our pharmacy leaders, our supply chain leaders, our incident command center here in Morgantown is open, and we’ve facilitated calls and run everything through our corporate brain every day,” Wright said Wednesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Oral hydration practices are being used when possible instead of intravenous delivery, and larger IV bags are being broken up into smaller units for use. But he said they are operating as normal as possible.
“We’ve had to put some mitigation strategies in place and make sure we’re using the stock we have and keeping up our patient care mission while we go through this,” Wright said.
Some elective procedures are being rescheduled or, in some cases, cancelled, but that number is far fewer than delays experienced during the pandemic.
“We’ve got a handful of high-volume elective procedures that use a lot of IV fluid, up to 20 liters, and we’ve cancelled or postponed a few of those,” Wright said.
Wright said the rapid loss of supply is similar to the personal protective equipment struggles during the pandemic. Like then, Wright said they are making the most of their supply on hand and communicating with the manufacturer to determine how long the facility will be closed.
“The one silver lining is we really learned how to share and communicate between our facilities when we went through the personal protective equipment challenges early in COVID, and we’re doing some of the same things,” Wright said.
Wright said they expect 60 percent of their normal allotment this month, 70 percent by the end of November, and by the end of the year supplies will return to 100 percent.
“If those numbers hold true, that gives us some light at the end of the tunnel,” Wright said. “To know, with our mitigation strategies in place, can we live on that reduced amount for a few more months, and hopefully that will prove to be true.