A Virginia woman with a rare medical condition has been giving herself IV fluids for years to maintain her health. But a recent nationwide IV fluid shortage has resulted in Jamie Aguilar spending the last six weeks in the hospital.

Baxter International Inc., in Marion, North Carolina, produces 60% of the nation's IV fluids. Hurricane Helene devastated their plant.

Since Helene hit in September 2024, the United States Food and Drug Administration has given the company permission to extend the expiration dates of several IV products to try to get supply back to normal. But according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, Virginia hospitals are still having to conserve products.

Home infusion companies, like the one Aguilar has relied on for nearly 42 years, have struggled to access IV fluids.

"If I don't have this, I can't live," Aguilar explained. "So I do what I need to do to live."

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Aguilar was born with a rare condition and her body doesn’t absorb the electrolytes she needs through food and drink. She relies on IV fluids to keep her alive.

She’s been able to give them to herself through a daily IV drip at home for all of her life, so she can maintain some sort of normalcy.

"I've never had to be admitted to the hospital for an electrolyte imbalance because I can maintain all of this at home by myself," Aguilar said. "I don't have a nurse come to the home to help me. I do everything, so I'm able to live my life. And now, I've just been in the hospital for almost six weeks. It's been, you know, it's been tough."

Since Helene, she’s had to receive her daily fluids at Johnston-Willis Hospital.

"I miss my people," said Aguilar. "I miss my friends. I miss my family. I miss driving in my car with the windows down, going to just a coffee shop, sitting down and having coffee and people watching, just having the windows down and the sun on my face. I haven't felt the sun in almost six weeks."

In addition to the IV fluid shortage, Aguilar says she also learned the home infusion company she’s been using for the past few years is no longer compounding or mixing IV fluids with the supplements she needs to live.

Her care team at the hospital is working hard to find a company to provide the IV bags to her at home.

"It's a teamwork effort, but it's so hard when I'm just here. I'm dealing with other things, with my health, and I'm just trying to make it," she said. "I need all the help I can get. So for anyone who sees this that can help, that would do wonders for me."

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The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association notes Baxter International plans to reach 100 percent allocation of several IV product codes by the end of the year. They also explained Baxter has plans for phased allocation increases in late November and mid-December.

In the past week, the company has been able to restart one manufacturing line, and they’ve announced plans to restore a second line.

Those two lines represent about 50% of the total production capacity at the facility and about 85% of the production of one-liter IV solutions that are most commonly used by hospitals and clinics.

But there’s still no exact timeline for when we can expect production to be fully restored to pre-hurricane levels.

This story was originally published by Caroline Coleburn at Scripps News Richmond.