TOLEDO, Ohio — The impacts of Hurricane Helene are being felt across the country, including here in Toledo.
Local medical facilities are now being more selective and cautious with their medical supplies. This comes after one of the largest suppliers of IV fluids was recently flooded in North Carolina.
A statement sent to WTOL 11 from the Ohio Department of Health said in part they're "working with partners at the regional, state, and national level. Within the state, we are coordinating closely with regional hospital liaisons, regional healthcare coordinators, the Ohio Hospital Association, and the Ohio Pharmacy Services Center, among others, to ensure a statewide approach for situational awareness and information sharing, data collection, and strategy development."
The department said one of those strategies would include resource sharing, should the situation escalate to make that necessary.
Meanwhile, hospitals are making decisions as a safety precaution.
University of Toledo Health said they're taking action to conserve their supply of IV fluids and "only use them when critically needed."
This means suspending elective surgical procedures and delivering medications orally.
A strategy other hospitals are considering.
"The problem happens when we have, each surgery that we do requires IV fluids for the patient to get while they're getting anesthesia," said Toledo Clinics chairman of surgery, Sarath Palakodeti.
He said they're now putting disaster protocols into place, evaluating how they're going to make the best use of what they have.
"Looking at the rest of the week, we have some IV fluids in stock but we're not going to be able to get very many for the upcoming weeks," said Palakodeti.
Palakodeti said they'll be looking closely at upcoming surgeries.
"Things that are truly elective could get postponed," Palakodeti said. "We're going to start talking to our surgeons about postponing those surgeries and only doing the surgeries that are truly vital or urgent."
He said this will also affect oncology patients who need their IV fluids when they're getting IV chemotherapy medications and very sick patients.
In a statement sent by ProMedica, they said they have not yet experienced any disruptions in patient services, however, they're preparing for the shortage.
The Blanchard Valley Health System said they're also monitoring but as of now, they're not canceling elective surgeries.