By Craig Harriman, Staff Writer

The University of New Hampshire and The American Red Cross teamed up again last week for the first of several blood drive campaigns on campus throughout the year.

Three members of the Red Cross Club at UNH were the gatekeepers of the Stafford Room in the Memorial Union Building, helping students sign in and sign up, as well as providing them with literature to review the process of giving blood.

The Club also does school visits, disaster services training and fundraising for the Red Cross. 

The Red Cross was in the Stafford room Monday through Thursday drawing blood from students, faculty and staff to provide blood to many facilities throughout the region.

Sharon Streeter of the American Red Cross is in her sixth year coming to UNH for the four-day blood drive.

The blood drawn during the week is put on ice each day and then transported to the Manchester lab for testing.

“There are six test tubes for every bag. They do all the testing and once it’s okay, then they process the blood and separate it for distribution,” Streeter said.

The Red Cross collects over 100 pints per day; one pint from each donor.

A second type of donation, the double red, counts as two pints toward the goal.  A machine spins a unit of blood which separates the red blood cells and the plasma so that when a person needs more blood it is concentrated and can come from the same person. According to Streeter, this reduces the chance for an infection.