Anyone with an elective surgery scheduled in the coming weeks or days should be prepared for a delay, all due to a hurricane across the country.
Hurricane Helene, which devastated the southeast U.S. , has damaged a North Carolina factory that produces 60% of the IV fluids and supplies to Utah hospitals, which is also having a ripple effect across the country .
As the Utah Hospital Association Emergency Preparedness director, Jordan Sorenson works for the organization that represents all of Utah hospitals. He previously dealt with a similar crisis during the pandemic, but hospitals are now taking some of the same measures they had to during COVID.
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“What the hospitals have done is they have implemented some pretty strict conservation strategies,” he said. “Where and when they can, they reduce IV fluid usage. If the patient’s able to drink rather than having an IV, they’re doing it.”
Baxter International in North Carolina has returned to operations, but the damage has been done for medical providers.