Typically, the floor of the Dean Smith Center is being used for basketball action. But as visitors walked into the arena Tuesday, the floor was filled with donation beds, chairs and snack stations for the 34th annual Carolina Blood Drive.

Jen DeNeal spoke with people waiting to be double-red donors, or double the normal amount of red blood cells. To help prepare them, she’s sharing tips on blood flow.

“The main thing is you don’t want your hands to be cold,” she said. “So, you can heat up your hands a bit by rubbing them together, but also massaging your forearms to get that iron-rich blood up into your fingertips.”

DeNeal, who is the Chair of the Carolina Blood Drive Committee, said it the first time this exact floor set up is being used, where the double-red donors are on the ground floor with normal donors, or “whole blood” donors. It is one of many changes for the blood drive this year. For the first time since DeNeal took charge, masking is optional and there is less widespread concern about COVID-19. People are going to more and more in-person events, like blood drives, but DeNeal pointed out that means they are going to other events too.

“There’s a set of challenges,” she said. “Since COVID-19 is going down in many places and more and more people are getting vaccinated, lots more people are going on vacations, they’re doing things in the summer. That does contribute to a really critical need for blood right now.”

While DeNeal describes the drive for blood as constant, it’s no exaggeration that national inventories are facing dire levels of blood. Last September, the American Red Cross said it had the lowest amount of blood stored in seven years — largely due to collection interruptions by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Carolina Blood Drive bucked that trend in 2020, setting an event record and national record for the largest single-day drive in the year. The following year, the drive followed up with a total of 548 units of blood. Organizers told Chapelboro that Tuesday’s drive collected 510 units of blood from 515 donors with the help of 93 different volunteers.

DeNeal credits those turnouts to a strong community at UNC and the outlying area, with many people coming back year in and year out to donate.

Karen Webster, a UNC employee and Pittsboro resident, is one of those people. In her sixteenth year of volunteering at the Carolina Blood Drive, she pulled double-duty: giving blood before helping other donors get ready for their time in the chair.

Kim Webster, a regular volunteer for the Carolina Blood Drive, smiles as she takes her turn donating blood.

“I’m not a wealthy woman and this is what I can give for free,” she said with a laugh.

As Webster squeezed a piece of foam to help her blood flow into a 470-milliliter bag, she reflected on the selfless nature of the community around blood donors and volunteers.

“I think it’s something that we can do where we don’t necessarily see the outcome, but we’re helping others who need help,” Webster said. “And I think that’s what the human race should do: help others in any way we can.”

UNC graduate student Katherine Benson shared similar thoughts on her way out of the Dean Dome with a Carolina Blood Drive t-shirt in-hand. She said while Tuesday was her first donation in a while, she’s made a point in the past to give at drives.

“They always need blood so it’s a hugely helpful thing to do and it just feels good,” said Benson. “It’s not that much of an inconvenience and it makes a big difference.”

To find where to donate blood, visit the American Red Cross’ search page. UNC is slated to hold another widespread blood drive again this winter for their annual Holiday Blood Drive.


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