ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The pause in elective surgeries at URMC continues as health systems across the country deal with a shortage of IV fluids.

The factory in North Carolina that produces most of the country’s supply was badly damaged during Hurricane Helene.

The good news is at this point, it’s not impacting cancer patients. That’s only because of the pause on elective surgeries in other areas of the hospital.

Since Hurricane Helene, there have been significantly reduced shipments of IV sterile fluids. UR Medicine procurement teams are working to increase supplies from multiple vendors but the incoming supply still does not match the rate at which they are used. Cases are being reviewed daily to determine their urgency. If you’ve had an elective or semi-elective surgery postponed, it’s because those fluids were desperately needed elsewhere, like at the cancer center.

“The medical center has tried to adjust the allocations of this to ensure we do have enough IV fluids to take care of patients with cancer. So no infusion therapy has been impacted by the pause and we do use a lot of fluids around chemotherapy and that type of thing,” said Dr. Jonathan W. Friedberg, Director of the Wilmot Cancer Institute.

The hope is that the shortage will ease some soon, the federal government has stepped in to try and help the North Carolina facility get reopened and allow it to import products from its plants in other parts of the world. No word yet on when URMC will be ready to lift its pause on elective surgeries, we’ll continue to follow any developments.

Patients will be contacted directly if their case needs to be postponed. You do not need to contact your surgeon’s office.

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