EvergreenHealth temporarily suspends certain elective surgeries due to hurricane supply shortages

KIRKLAND, Wash. — EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland is moving to postpone certain elective surgeries due to a nationwide shortage of intravenous (IV) fluids amid the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

According to the health center, clinical leaders are continuously assessing current medical stock and implementing processes to conserve their supplies.

The nationwide IV fluid shortage has been driven primarily by Hurricane Helene’s impact on the Baxter International production facility, the top supplier of hospital IV fluids in the United States. The company continues to provide updates on their progress as they work towards the restoration of their facility and supplies.

Baxter has said their goal is to restart production in phases and return to 90% to 100% allocation of certain IV solution product codes by the end of 2024, with CEO Joe Almeida reiterating, “We will spare no resource — human or financial — to restart operations and help ensure patients and providers have the products they need.”

The potential threat of Hurricane Milton affecting the B. Braun plant, another large IV production facility, has created an additional “critical need” for EvergreenHealth and health centers across the nation to conserve these essential supplies.

In communications sent out earlier today, EvergreenHealth told their staff, “While our conservation efforts and newly implemented workflows have shown positive results, our current consumption of IV fluids continues to exceed what we expect to receive in next week’s shipment. After careful evaluation, we are taking additional steps to ensure we can continue to deliver the best possible care to our patients.”

The medical center said that the surgical leadership team, including key surgical medical directors, made the decision to temporarily postpone certain surgical cases based on their fluid requirements.

In a statement to KIRO 7, EvergreenHealth said, “We are taking the step to temporarily postpone certain elective surgeries that require more than two liters of IV fluid throughout the patient’s hospital stay. This step is necessary to conserve fluid supplies for emergent and urgent procedures that cannot be delayed.”

EvergreenHealth reaffirmed that they are reaching out directly to those whose surgeries are temporarily affected by this measure. They should expect to be contacted by their surgeon about rescheduling their procedure.

Surgeries that are emergent or urgent will continue as planned, and elective surgeries that require less than two liters of IV fluids of any kind throughout the hospital stay will be evaluated for consideration to continue as planned.

In their statement, EvergreenHealth added, “As a community-owned hospital, EvergreenHealth remains dedicated to providing safe, high-quality care for all of our patients during this shortage.”

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