WEST NEWBURY - She vowed never to sponsor a Red Cross blood drive again - and Sara Connolly is sticking to her word.

Connolly, a West Newbury police dispatcher, organized a Red Cross blood drive in September at the fire station that turned into a blood-giving debacle. For more than three hours, five American Red Cross blood technicians, complaining of fumes and heat, refused to draw blood from the arms of willing donors.

And shortly after the five workers began drawing blood in the late afternoon, four of them stopped for a lunch break.

Dozens of donors were turned away, and longtime blood donors vowed never to give again. In the end, Red Cross officials disciplined employees, fired one and paid for a full-page advertisement in the Daily News apologizing to local blood providers.

Connolly is now organizing another blood drive. Only this time, she's leaving the work to Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Boston-based hospital will send up its bloodmobile from 8:30 a.m to 2 p.m. on Nov. 17, a Saturday.

Hospital executives contacted Connolly about setting up a drive after reading news reports about the Red Cross blood drive, Connolly said.

"It is different organization, and the women I've been working with seem a lot more attentive," Connolly said. "They seem a lot more reasonable."

Jack Connolly, Sara's father and a town firefighter, said one woman who had given a pint of blood every eight weeks for decades "said she will never give another drop of blood" to the American Red Cross.

At one point, the situation seemed so dire that Sara Connolly started calling those on a list for scheduled giving times to tell them the drive would be canceled. It was unclear how many potential donors were turned away, but the Connollys said there were many.

"I still won't do a blood drive with them ever, even after the apology and everything," Sara Connolly said. "I appreciate they did that, but I don't plan on doing a blood drive with them again."

Jack Connolly, who helped his daughter set up the event, said he is proud that Sara is continuing her quest to help the public and get local people to give blood.

"I think it is really commendable that she didn't get all beaten up and quit," he said. "She just went on plan B. She just absolutely wanted to put on a good blood drive."

The hospital's bloodmobiles, 40 feet long, are self-contained buses that allow officials to go to a site to get blood donations. Sara Connolly said because the mobile is self-supporting, there is no work that needs to be done on her part during the drive.

Buses come equipped with two soundproof booths for donors to provide medical history, four donation beds and a refreshment area. Each bus has a registered nurse, phlebotomists and, of course, a driver. A donation takes about 30 minutes.

Jack Connolly said the hospital worked hard to organize an event in West Newbury.

"Mass. General jumped on this right away," he said.