When hurricane season ramps up, communities brace for impact, and so do the healthcare systems that serve those communities. Cardinal Health does the same, because healthcare providers must have the medical supplies they need to focus on patient care in such critical moments.
“Every shipment matters, especially in an emergency” said Cherrod Williams, director of operations at Cardinal Health’s Weston, Florida, medical distribution center. “Our goal is to ensure our customers receive the critical products they need.”
The journey of a single medical product from manufacturer to distributor to healthcare provider is complex. To ensure availability of essential supplies, healthcare supply chains must be resilient and adaptable. This requires a proactive approach that includes risk anticipation, collaboration and network agility.
A distribution network built for adversity
Proactive planning and a system designed for flexibility ensure the resilience of Cardinal Health's medical product distribution network. Before, during and after weather events, teams across sales, operations, logistics and customer communications collaborate to share real-time information on storm paths, potential impacts and critical deliveries. This collaborative approach enables rapid decision making and a coordinated response.
Our distribution network's design, featuring replenishment centers (RCs) and forward distribution centers (FDCs) across North America, is central to Cardinal Health's agility. This interconnected "hub and spoke" system is purpose-built to adapt to shifting demand, withstand disruptions and maintain supply continuity during weather events. Each FDC is prepared for localized emergency responses, with pre-contracted fuel vendors, generator power for up to 72 hours and satellite phones for connectivity, ensuring continuous customer service during crises. The RCs serve as the backbone of the network, and each FDC is supported by a main RC and a backup RC.
“Our regional RCs are built to maintain optimal inventory levels of products at our FDCs and across the supply chain,” said Jeremy Currithers, vice president of operations, National Replenishment Center Network. “Our entire purpose is to ensure consistent, timely delivery to our forward distribution center locations and provide back up when local emergencies arise.”
Currithers explained that the RCs – which provide more than 13 million square feet of medical/surgical product distribution capacity (equivalent to over 225 football fields) – receive product deliveries for the entire network before breaking them down into smaller, customized orders for the FDCs.
Cardinal Health’s hub-and-spoke inventory management approach offers several key benefits:
Amid shifting market dynamics, the Cardinal Health medical distribution framework enables adaptability and a resilient supply chain so healthcare providers get the products they need when and where they need them. In an emergency, the RCs can pivot from their regular delivery model to one where they ship product to FDCs daily or on-demand.
Preparing for the storm with our customers
Before hurricane season begins, Cardinal Health works directly with healthcare systems in at-risk regions to assess needs, anticipate challenges and develop action plans. This includes increasing inventory levels – especially in critical categories such as personal protective equipment (PPE) – in RCs and FDCs, optimizing delivery routes to avoid impacted areas and bringing critical supplies closer to regions likely to be affected by a weather event.
For example, while planning for a potential eruption of Mount Spurr in Alaska earlier this year, inventory teams sent additional N95 masks to the Anchorage FDC to protect employees, healthcare providers and their patients from possible volcanic ash in the air.
Sherrick Orie, vice president of operations for Cardinal Health’s medical distribution network in North America, explained that Cardinal Health’s emergency response processes are fine-tuned via scenario planning, continuous improvement events and risk modeling to test network agility.
“In addition to their scenario-based exercises, sites proactively review their plans ahead of hurricane season to strengthen readiness,” said Orie. “This includes updating key contact information, reinforcing communication protocols and reminding employees of the potential impacts of severe weather.”
To help customers prepare for a weather event, Cardinal Health sales and operation team members also provide customers with a hurricane preparedness checklist. This checklist addresses key considerations, including special delivery instructions for priority departments, off-hour dock and hallway access, and designated supply storage for increased inventory. The goal is to proactively mitigate risks by anticipating potential impacts. For example, customers are advised to increase orders of critical items in advance, as high winds, flooding and power outages can disrupt deliveries during and after a storm.
Williams, who has led operations in our Weston, Florida, FDC for more than three years, emphasized how deeply ingrained emergency preparedness is at Cardinal Health. “Business resilience is part of our company’s operating rhythm”, he said. “Team members from new associates to leadership are all trained to think in terms of efficiency, safety and quality.”
“We don’t want our customers to be distracted from their number one priority, which is patient care,” Williams adds. “Because we've had such extensive experience in managing through extreme weather, we can coach our customers through a hurricane, helping them protect their operations so they can continue to focus on their patients.”
What happens when the storm has passed
Brian Kuebler, site operations manager for Cardinal Health’s Hammond, Louisiana, medical distribution center, explained that the service area for his warehouse, which includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle, has suffered a hit or had the potential to be hit every year since he joined the company in 2022. Because of that, he has devised a phased approach for inclement weather.
During what Kuebler calls a “pre-event,” he prepares in advance by engaging with sales teams and suggesting customers review their critical product inventories and other items on the hurricane checklist.
He frequently monitors reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). To keep everyone informed as bad weather nears, he times his team and cross-functional partner updates to align with NOAA's reporting schedule.
The Cardinal Health Security Operations and Intelligence Center (SOIC) also plays an important role throughout all phases of emergency response. Operating 24/7, the SOIC continuously monitors weather impacts and our facilities’ connection between local teams and regional or department leaders to help ensure a coordinated, timely response.
Once a storm passes, Kuebler and his operations employees, as well as other Cardinal Health teams, collectively assess overall impact and if driving routes are passable to reach customers’ facilities. Cardinal Health often collaborates with government entities and law enforcement to secure credentials to allow priority vehicle access to routes not open to the public.
“When it’s safe for our employees, our customers become the very next priority,” Kuebler said.
The worst of hurricane season is typically in September or October. As it approaches, we will harness our supply chain resilience strategies so that healthcare providers can count on timely and plentiful product deliveries.
“We know our customers rely on us, especially in the most challenging times,” said Orie. “That’s why we invest in infrastructure, technology and partnerships that enable us to act fast and stay flexible, no matter the disruption.”
Williams added, “We know there’s a patient in a hospital at the end of every delivery route. That knowledge drives every decision we make – especially during hurricane season.”