IV fluid supply decreases as Helen NC closes manufacturing plant

“We are working around the clock to assess the full extent of the impact and minimize potential supply disruptions to help ensure patients and providers get the products they need,” Baxter said in a statement.

As a result, hospitals are taking measures to make the most of supplies.

At Mass General Brigham in Boston, Paul Biedinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer, said hospital administrators are hoping the health-care system will receive only a partial shipment of IV bags to avoid interruptions in patient care.

Mass. General Brigham uses more than 100,000 liters of plain IV solution a month, Biedinger said, not including bags used for dialysis or some surgeries. He said the hospital network is counting the number of patients who need peritoneal dialysis — when fluid is pumped into the abdomen to flush out waste — and developing ancillary strategies.

“I would characterize this as a major deficit that we have overcome Over the past decade “we've worked quickly to make sure we're saving as much as possible,” Biedinger said.

In 2017, Mass General Brigham IV experienced a fluid shortage during Hurricane Maria but quickly returned to normal operations.

For health systems in the storm's path, the results were more immediate — and more devastating. Helen's deluge overwhelmed Unicoi County Hospital in Irwin, Tenn., which is “considered a total loss,” said Eric Dayton, chief operating officer of Ballad Health, the hospital's parent company.

Patients who could not be transferred by boat or vehicle had to wait on the hospital roof before being airlifted to safety.

“It was something we didn't expect,” Dayton said. “We are seeing floods [from] From time to time but nothing of this level.”

Deaton said 58 people, including 11 patients, were evacuated after water levels began to rise on Friday.

North Carolina's mountainous terrain poses additional challenges for relief efforts, said Ryan Spellman, director of operations for Operation AirDrop, a nonprofit that provides airlifts and conducts rescues in areas affected by natural disasters.

with limited landing spots Lacking helicopters and intact roads, “you have to build a community's ability to survive and shelter in place,” Spellman said. Operation Airdrop The area is provided with generators, chain saws and tents, as well as standard water and sanitation resources.

Spellman and his team are also responding to North Carolina's need for insulin and over-the-counter medications, including Benadryl, Pepto-Bismol and ointment for wasp stings, which plague people while sheltering in the mountains. They faced a significant need to supply babies with formula and clean feeding bottles.

At Mission Hospital's main campus in Asheville, N.C., Brian Pedersen, an ICU nurse, said Thursday that for the first time staff were instructed to use even less IV fluids. When the hospital was not short of IV fluids, staff were encouraged to give electrolytes orally or through a feeding tube if possible.

“They're just anticipating that there's going to be some supply chain issue,” Pedersen said.

In the first few days of the storm, the emergency department was so overwhelmed that at some points the patient-to-nurse ratio reached 1 to 10, Pedersen said.

“It was a madhouse down there,” he added.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency set up tents inside emergency rooms to handle less serious injuries, which eased the burden on the department, Pedersen said.

He said that as of Wednesday, the hospital only had running water for washing hands, bathing and flushing toilets, but he wasn't sure how long that would last as officials figured out how to prevent sewage from overwhelming the city's damaged water system.

Even with the recovery of the region's health-care system, the damaging effects of Helen are likely to continue.

A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature found that death rates in areas affected by tropical cyclones remain elevated for up to 15 years after the storm has passed. As people pay to rebuild their homes, aid workers say, there is often little left for health care. Disasters caused by storms can also cause stress that exacerbates mental and physical illness.

As a result, experts say, areas affected by Helen don't just need immediate relief and resources — they need long-term help to rebuild.