On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, Baxter Healthcare's massive North Cove plant looked back at how the site has recovered and evolved since the massive storm.
On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, Baxter Healthcare's massive North Cove plant looked back at how the site has recovered and evolved since the massive storm. These are two employees featured in a video made by Baxter.
For more than 52 years, Baxter has been a big part of the North Cove community of McDowell County. The 1.4-million-square-foot plant is the largest manufacturer of intravenous (IV) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions in the United States and is Baxter’s largest manufacturing facility in the world.
The Baxter Healthcare plant in North Cove currently has more than 2,500 employees and they live in McDowell and surrounding counties. More than 1 million IV solutions are produced at this plant every day.
The first 1,000 employees were welcomed back to the site on Oct. 14, 2024, and the plant completed a deep cleaning for production rooms within the plant on Oct. 19.
After the installation of two temporary metal bridges, the plant restarted the first high-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line during the week of Oct. 28, 2024, and then restarted the second high-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line during the week of Nov. 11.
In October 2025, the N.C. Department of Transportation completed a new permanent bridge to replace the one that was destroyed in 2024. It is bigger, stronger and more resilient than the old one destroyed by Helene, according to State Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson.
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This photo shows the interior of the plant after the deep cleaning and when production got back to pre-Helene conditions.
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Today, Baxter’s North Cove facility again produces more than 1 million IV solutions daily, making it a vital part of both the local community and the nation's healthcare supply chain.
On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, Baxter Healthcare's massive North Cove plant looked back at how the site has recovered and evolved since the massive storm. These are two employees featured in a video made by Baxter.
For more than 52 years, Baxter has been a big part of the North Cove community of McDowell County. The 1.4-million-square-foot plant is the largest manufacturer of intravenous (IV) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions in the United States and is Baxter’s largest manufacturing facility in the world.
The Baxter Healthcare plant in North Cove currently has more than 2,500 employees and they live in McDowell and surrounding counties. More than 1 million IV solutions are produced at this plant every day.
The first 1,000 employees were welcomed back to the site on Oct. 14, 2024, and the plant completed a deep cleaning for production rooms within the plant on Oct. 19.
After the installation of two temporary metal bridges, the plant restarted the first high-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line during the week of Oct. 28, 2024, and then restarted the second high-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line during the week of Nov. 11.
In October 2025, the N.C. Department of Transportation completed a new permanent bridge to replace the one that was destroyed in 2024. It is bigger, stronger and more resilient than the old one destroyed by Helene, according to State Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson.
Today, Baxter’s North Cove facility again produces more than 1 million IV solutions daily, making it a vital part of both the local community and the nation's healthcare supply chain.
