MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota hospitals are scrambling for solutions after the manufacturer of the majority of its IV fluids supply shuttered due to flooding in wake of Hurricane Helene.
Baxter produces 60% of the IV fluids, which treat hydration and are essential for surgeries, distributed to U.S. hospitals , but its facility in hard hit western North Carolina is closed indefinitely. The company, in a statement , said it’s working “around the clock” with state and federal officials to survey the scope of the damage and implement a plan “to bring the plant back online as quickly as possible to help mitigate supply disruption to patients.”
But hospitals like North Memorial and others in Minnesota are already feeling the squeeze of the short supply, a week and a half after the storm devastated parts of the Southeast.
“It’s been a pretty dramatic impact for us,” Mike Waldt, system director of pharmacy for North Memorial Health said.