Hurricane Helene Impacts Dialysis

The effects of Hurricane Helene continue to be felt among dialysis providers and patients. In late September, Helene’s heavy rains and storm surge flooded Baxter International’s facility in North Cove, North Carolina, which supplied about 60% of intravenous (IV) fluids used by US hospitals, including half of the nation’s peritoneal dialysis (PD) fluids.

The Food and Drug Administration declared a shortage of PD fluids and helped facilitate temporary importation of IV and PD fluids from other Baxter facilities. In addition, other manufacturers have increased output to help alleviate the shortage.

Baxter is working to restore its operations in phases by the end of 2024, but as of late October, it did not have a timeline for when North Cove production was expected to be fully restored to pre-hurricane levels.