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Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) Recognizes National Eye Donor Month this March

Pittsburgh, February 27, 2013The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), a federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of New York, is encouraging individuals to register to become eye and cornea donors as the nation recognizes National Eye Donor Month.

“More than 46,000 people receive the gift of sight each year thanks to cornea transplants and the generosity of organ, tissue and cornea donors,” said Susan Stuart, president and CEO of CORE. “Last year, CORE was able to provide the gift of sight to 346 western Pennsylvania residents and to an additional 475 residents outside of the western Pennsylvania area. The organization also partnered with the Medical Eye Bank of West Virginia to give the gift of sight to 334 people in West Virginia. We hope to top those numbers this year.”

To ensure the continued success of CORE’s eye division, the organization has appointed additional staff dedicated to the onsite eye bank at its Pittsburgh headquarters. This allows CORE’s eye bank professionals to work even more efficiently in evaluating and distributing corneas to meet the needs of cornea transplant surgeries both locally and nationally.

Since 1961, surgeons have performed more than 700,000 cornea transplant procedures across the country, restoring sight to men, women and children ranging in age from nine days to 103 years old. National Eye Donor Month was established in 1983 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and is commemorated each year with a proclamation to note this special public awareness month. A member of Congress continues this tradition by reading a proclamation into the Congressional Record each March.

For more information about CORE, visit www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.

About CORE
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is one of 58 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States. CORE works closely with donor families and designated health care professionals to coordinate the surgical recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplantation. CORE also facilitates the computerized matching of donated organs and placement of corneas. With headquarters in Pittsburgh and an office in Charleston, West Virginia, CORE oversees a region that encompasses 155 hospitals and almost six million people throughout western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Chemung County, NY. For more information, visit www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.