CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — When hurricane Helene hit North Carolina it damaged a facility that produces about 60 percent of the country’s IV fluid supply. New York’s Health Commissioner said this impacts nearly half of New York hospitals. NEWS10 spoke with Capital Region hospitals and patients about how this has already led to the delay of some elective surgeries at Albany Medical Center.
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A patient who wants to remain anonymous said her procedure has been affected, “I get the call from Albany Med, you know, with my pre-op testing, all my instructions went through all the medications with them. And a day later I get a call telling me that this coming Wednesday is canceled.”
The cancellation coming at a cost of more than just her time, when she factors in the pre-op testing, “I’m looking at a couple of thousand (dollars) probably. If I have to reschedule it into next year.” She’s worried the delays will continue saying, “I could go through this all over again, reschedule my other testing that I had rescheduled in the first place, rescheduled again. So, it would be at the end of December if possible.”