What stains, makes some people faint at its sight and kills when it doesn’t flow? It’s blood. Blood is vital to our existence and hospitals have to keep supplies on hand to supplement patients who have lost too much.Although violent blood letting crimes like shootings and stabbings have become almost commonplace Body & Soul learned that these incidents have not significantly impacted the amount of blood that must be kept on hand at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.“We have slightly increased the blood stocks but that has been in response to general medical and surgical procedures carried out within the hospital,” said a hospital spokesman.“Accidents and shootings do have the potential to put additional stress on blood supply only because we still need 40 to 50 units/week for general usage. One unit equates to one donor,” the spokesman added.And there lies the more pressing concern for KEMH the need to increase the number of people who donate blood. As of May, there were 1,107 registered blood donators in Bermuda, less than half the 2,724 the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends for our population of 60,000.In particular only about four percent of locals under 25 years old, donate blood. The WHO recommends this percentage be around 38. But how should the hospital attract younger people to start donating? No one was working on the matter, when Bermuda College student Eden Richardson contacted the blood donation office and said she wanted to have a drive for teens. She was in her first semester of the college’s nursing programme when she learned about Spirit Week. It’s a week where college students engage in activities that build community. It takes place every semester. According to Ms Richardson, there are many information booths and activities students present and participate in, but all on-campus.She said she and fellow nursing student, Kishona Zuill, decided they wanted to do something in keeping with their major.“We did some brainstorming we wanted to do something related to nursing,” said Ms Richardson. “We decided on having a blood donation drive,’ she added. It was very short notice when we called the hospital but they set aside staff for us,” she said.Blood donations happen by appointment between 8.30am and 2.30pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Given the short notice Ms Richardson and Ms Zuill considered themselves lucky that there were some openings available during Spirit Week. The drive took place on two back-to-back mornings Wednesday, March 16 and Thursday, March 17 this year. A total of 16 people donated blood, eight staff and eight students.‘We were happy we booked 20 appointments,” said Ms Richardson. “We were satisfied with the response given the time we were allotted,” she added. “It was late notice for the blood donor clinic. If we had a full day we may have seen the numbers rise because it may have been easier for people with morning classes to donate in the afternoon,” she said.Although 20 appointments were booked only 16 met the requirement for being able to donate. In fact Ms Richardson and Ms Zuill were both considered underweight and unable to donate.“Although my friend Kishona and I were unable to donate, we encouraged others who could,” she said. “People can be ineligible to donate for several reasons but if you can’t donate, it doesn’t take much to encourage others to support such a wonderful cause.”Ms Richardson said although training to be nurses neither she nor Ms Zuill were allowed to actually draw blood from fellow students.“Because we are not trained we were not allowed to do anything hands on,” she said. “But we were at the clinic to support everyone who came. We helped them fill out forms and explained the process to them.”Hospital staff was impressed with the efforts of the two students.“We were thrilled that Eden did such an exemplary job encouraging Bermuda College students and staff to become donors,” said Susan de Verteuil, Pathology Nurse at the Bermuda Blood Donor Centre. This is particularly important because we always need donors and we especially need younger donors.Ms Richardson who has now changed her major to one that allows her to pursue a medical degree. She plans to organise another blood donor drive in the fall semester.