2024-11-13  〉On September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Southeastern United States, unleashing catastrophic damage to communities along its path. In the wake of its destruction, Hurricane Helene obliterated numerous homes and businesses, including Baxter International’s North Cove plant in Marion, North Carolina.

The facility, known as the country’s largest manufacturing site for intravenous (IV) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions, suffered major flood damage which led to the complete halt of its entire production line. As a result, this disrupted the mass production of IV and dialysis fluids causing a nationwide shortage, which signaled to healthcare providers the potential impact on their patients by the lack of IV and dialysis administrations.

Our objective: Prevent a nationwide shortage of packaging solutions for IV and dialysis

To bolster domestic supply of IV and dialysis solutions until Baxter’s North Cove site returns to full production capacity, RENOLIT Healthcare’s U.S. flagship, American RENOLIT Corporation L.A., immediately responded to the emergency by adding production shifts to ramp up its development of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Polypropylene (PP) films for auxiliary IV and dialysis market players. With North Cove being responsible for producing nearly 60% of the U.S.’s IV fluids, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it was imperative to have a surplus of films that could compensate for Baxter’s product loss.

American RENOLIT Corporation L.A.’s quick action to ramp up its film production successfully prevented a nationwide shortage of packaging solutions for IV and dialysis that are necessary for patient care. Since Hurricane Helene subsided in late September, American RENOLIT Corporation L.A. has continued to ship its October orders of IV and dialysis films to meet the heavy demand of bag developers for fluid solutions who supply their products to U.S. hospitals.

Our contribution: Pivot our film operations and ramp up production immediately

The immediate response from American RENOLIT Corporation L.A. helped support U.S. hospital patients who otherwise would not have been able to receive the critical fluids needed for their treatments. Understanding the potential impact to human health, American RENOLIT Corporation L.A. quickly pivoted its film operations to help solve for the IV and dialysis solution deficit from the damage caused to Baxter’s North Cove facility.

We at RENOLIT Healthcare are deeply proud of this collective effort made by our U.S. team to help improve human health. We believe it is a true testament of our company Vision, Together Towards Health, in true, collaborative conjunction with our customers and partners.