Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts' largest hospital and health care system, warned in an internal email to employees Wednesday that it is experiencing a 'serious and immediate IV fluid shortage,' due to the devastation from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina that damaged one of the nation's largest suppliers of IVs. Baxter International Inc., which manufactures 60% of the country's IV solutions and produces 1.5 million bags per day, alerted hospitals across the country that its North Cove manufacturing plant in Marion, N.C., was temporarily closed as a result of the hurricane's damage.
OneBlood, Florida's primary distributor of blood, is able to again move supplies to hospitals but is still recovering from a ransomware attack that shifted the nonprofit into manual operations.