Mary Greeley Medical Center wants your blood.

John Elliott, blood bank supervisor at the Ames-based hospital, said it currently collects about 93 percent of the blood used by its patients, but he wants that number to grow to 100 percent.

“We’re trying very hard to be self-sufficient,” Elliott said. “Ninety to 93 percent is very good but we can always be better.”

The hospital tries to draw about 60 pints per week. Nationally, there is a demand for 34,000 pints each day.

Currently, Mary Greeley has about 4,000 donors who give their blood anywhere from one to six times per year.

Some students have reservations about donating bodily fluids.

“Blood and needles scare me,” said Jessica Gonzalez, junior in elementary education.

However, Ryan Hackenmiller, sophomore in construction engineering, said donating isn’t that bad.

“It isn’t painful by any means,” he said.

“And it makes you feel good when you’re done.”

Hackenmiller gave blood last spring during the annual blood drive, and his effort was spurred on by the promise of extra credit in a physics course he was taking.

“If more teachers did something like that it would be a more popular thing,” he said.

Elliott said it is safe to give blood every eight weeks and a person can give up to about a pint each visit.

After a donation is made, the blood can be separated into three different components which can be used in different people at different times.

Unlike giving only plasma, which can be done twice a week and provides compensation, giving blood must be done less often and given for free.

Aside from the big blood drives at Iowa State each fall and spring semester, Elliott said he would like to see more students donate.

When there isn’t enough blood for the patients, the hospital has to look elsewhere.

That usually means purchasing blood from hospitals in Des Moines, Davenport and Sioux City.

Elliott said the summer donations this year were steady, but it is this time of year that numbers begin to drop off.

As donors’ schedules get more hectic, they are less likely to come in and donate, Elliott said.

The hospital is looking for donors of all blood types – A, B, O and AB – but Elliott said it likes to get people with rare negative types, especially O negative, which is a universal donor.

“O negative folks are really in demand,” Elliott said.