Communities struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene

On Friday, Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, leading to severe storms across several different states, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Currently, almost 2 million people still don't have power, and many are struggling to get needed resources, including medical supplies. As of Monday, the death toll was 128, and hundreds of people have been reported missing.

"Devastation does not even begin to describe how we feel," Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said Monday.

"We are seeing just piles of people's houses that were destroyed. Buildings that were destroyed. Cars overturned," said Esther Manheimer, mayor of Asheville, North Carolina. "The power lines look like spaghetti. It's hard to describe the chaos that it looks like. It really feels like a post-apocalyptic scene."

According to the Pentagon, thousands of U.S. National Guard members have been activated to help affected states with their recovery efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also visited areas that have been decimated by the storm.

However, high levels of rain in several states, which reached more than 12 inches, have likely impeded some recovery efforts. Currently, around 90 river gauges along Helene's path are still at some sort of flood stage, with about 20 at moderate or major flood stage. It will take several days for these river gauges to fall below flood level.

"Even as the rains and winds have subsided, the challenge for people there increases," said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D). "People are desperate for help, and we are pushing to get it to them. A massive effort."

Health supply chain impacted by Helene

Kody Kinsley, secretary of the North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services, said that all the state's hospitals "remain operating, albeit many of them on backup generator power and temporary water supply."

Kinsely said that his department is currently working with Emergency Management and other organizations to ensure hospitals have the necessary supplies to sustain care.

However, damage to a medical device manufacturing plant could negatively impact the medical supply chain in the affected areas. On Sunday, Baxter International closed one of its facilities in North Carolina, which manufactures dialysis solutions and IV fluids, due to significant flooding.

"The heavy rain and storm surge triggered a levee breach, which led to water permeating the site," Baxter said, adding that bridges leading to the facility were also damaged.

"It's a very serious situation," said Allan Coukell, chief government affairs officer for Civica Rx, which is working to address potential supply chain issues with its health system and pharma members.

"You really can't run a hospital very long without [IV bags] because fluid is not only used for managing all kinds of acute illness, but for delivering drugs for in surgery and inpatient care," Coukell said.

According to Mike Ganio, senior director at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, hospitals should take stock of their inventories and begin using workarounds, such as having patients hydrate orally if they're able or manually pushing medications with syringes.

"We have strategies readily available based on our recent experiences that can be employed, and now it's just kind of waiting to see how much of an impact there is," Ganio said.

"The call to action is going to be a conservation strategy for hospital leaders," said Kyle MacKinnon from Premier. "This is going to take some time, not only to, for the flooding and all the water to recede, if it hasn't already, but there's going to be the cleanup."

For its part, Baxter said that it is working to minimize any supply disruptions, including by relying on its global manufacturing network. The company is also coordinating with federal agencies and group purchasing organizations on any supply chain issues.

"Remediation efforts are already underway, and we will spare no resource — human or financial — to resume production and help ensure patients and providers have the products they need," said José Almeida, Baxter chair, president, and CEO. (Yan/Almasy, CNN, 9/30; Blythe/Atwater, North Carolina Health News, 9/30; Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 9/30; Reed, Axios, 10/1; Reuter, MedTech Dive, 9/30)

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