BEAVERCREEK — The chaos Hurricane Helene caused in North Carolina a few weeks ago continues to haunt a Miami Valley mom never thought a natural disaster would put her life at risk.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, Jordyn Yoxtheimer of Beavercreek said she is worried that a shortage of I-V fluid and peritoneal dialysis solutions could impair her health.
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When the storm slogged its way up the East Coast, it damaged a warehouse belonging to Baxter International, the multinational healthcare company based in Deerfield, Illinois, that makes I-V fluids and peritoneal dialysis solutions and caused a nationwide shortage.
Baxter sends those supplies to DaVita, the healthcare company, which passes those supplies to patients such as Yoxtheimer, who suffered in-stage kidney failure three months ago. DaVita has been helping her with dialysis since that time.
This week, Baxter informed her that its treatment plan was changing to six days a week and she’s concerned about that because until that change, Yoxtheimer was receiving at-home dialysis seven days a week.
“I need dialysis to pull toxins out of my body to survive, and me and everybody else that’s on dialysis is kind of worried about if there’s no plan,” she said.
Baxter, on its website, said it asked healthcare professionals to limit new at-home dialysis patients to those who are minors or those on critical care.
“We were notified that look, we’re not processing orders right now,” Yoxtheimer said. “And other than that, I mean my DaVita nurses called and said ‘hey, here’s our plan managing moving forward.’ "
She has 10 days of supplies remaining and said DeVita would not allow her to order any new medication.
DaVita, in response to a News Center 7 request for comment, said, “our focus remains ensuring the health and safety of our patients. We’re confident our saline inventory and supply sources will enable us to treat patients in-center without interruption. We continue to support our existing patients on home-based peritoneal dialysis.”
Yoxtheimer, when News Center 7 read her the statement, said, “I guess it’s like… well where do we go from here?”
Baxter, according to its website, has increased production at seven of its plants across the globe to help bump up inventory. Two weeks ago, the medical device maker also received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to temporarily import products from five facilities in Canada, China, Ireland and the United Kingdom, according to media reports. More are on the way, Baxter said.
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