Martha’s Vineyard Hospital is one of several hospitals facing a shortage of IV fluid after flooding from Hurricane Helene forced one of the country’s primary manufacturers to close.

Dr. Paul Biddinger, the chief preparedness and continuity officer for Mass General Brigham, which owns Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, said Thursday that the hospital will be receiving only about 40 per cent of what the entire hospital network usually gets.

“I would categorize this as one of the biggest shortages that we’ve had to deal with,” Dr. Biddinger said in a press conference. 

Mass General Brigham has assembled a specialized team to address the shortage and instituted conservation measures, such as emphasizing oral hydration for patients that are able and limiting the amount of IV fluid bags prepared in the event a patient should need them.

While hospital officials are unsure how long this shortage will last, Dr. Biddinger said patients that need IV fluid will still be able to receive it. He said a majority of patients admitted to the hospital need IV fluids at some point during their stay, and the system uses more than 100,000 every month.

“We’re continuing care as normal and people should have confidence,” said Dr. Biddinger. “...Patients are still getting IV fluids when they need them.”

Baxter Healthcare, a North Carolina-based manufacturer that supplies most of the IV fluid bags for the Mass General Brigham system, supplies roughly 60 per cent of IV fluid bags for the country. In a press release late last month, the company said they’re working with local, state and federal officials to bring the plant back online as soon as possible.

Dr. Biddinger said the hospital has already seen an immediate change in their daily shipments. 

The hospital system faced an IV fluid bag shortage in 2018 when Hurricane Maria damaged and temporarily shut down several factories in Puerto Rico. Dr. Biddinger said from previous experiences the hospital system has found it difficult to get bags from other manufacturers during emergencies, because the manufacturers prioritize their regular customers. 

“[Climate change] is very much something that we think about,” Dr. Biddinger said. “We look constantly at where we can diversify our supply chain.”

The hospital has extra IV bags in case of an emergency, but Dr. Biddinger said that IV fluids have a relatively short expiration date. There are national stock piles but he said they haven’t been enacted.