STOCKTON — Hurricane Helene is gone, but the damage done is impacting thousands of families and patients, including in California.
Helene flooded a North Carolina facility that manufactures 60% of the nation’s IV doses, so now hospitals are preparing for a potential shortage. millions of dollars worth of damage was done to the Baxter International facility.
San Joaquin General Hospital receives these much-needed treatments from the facility, but it is now shut down. Hospital staff have started to look at other potential options or anywhere they can to find more IV doses.
There isn’t a shortage there, but they are preparing for one with the hospital now only getting about 40% of the doses it usually gets.
“We have no current shortage,” said Richard Castro, the CEO of the San Joaquin General Hospital. “We have over 7 days of supply but that will decline every day moving forward.”
This is forcing Castro and his team to get creative when looking for more doses or stretching the supply they have now.