Apr 20, 2012 2 min read

Uniontown Hospital will hold a flag ceremony today to honor National Organ Donor Awareness Month at the flagpole near the emergency room entrance.

Special guests at the 10 a.m. ceremony will include donor-mother, Rebecca Yowler; organ recipient, Nancy; and Tom Vislay, professional services liaison, from the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE).

An honor guard will assist at the flag-raising ceremony.

According to CORE, more than 113,000 people across the country are awaiting an organ transplant, and at least 18 will die without receiving one. CORE, a federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of New York, is joining the organ donation community once again this month by commemorating National Organ Donor Awareness Month. Throughout the month, CORE is encouraging people to register to become organ, tissue and cornea donors.

“The number of people in need of transplants far exceeds the number of organs, tissues and corneas that are donated, and at CORE, one of our primary goals is to educate people on the need to make a pledge for life and become an organ, tissue and cornea donor,” said Susan Stuart, president and chief executive officer of CORE. “In conjunction with OPOs across the nation, we are aiming to meet our goal of registering 20 million people across the country to become donors. It’s part of Donate Life America’s ’20 Million in 2012′ campaign.”

Stuart said people are encouraged to talk with family members and friends about making the pledge to become an organ, tissue and cornea donor. Each person who signs up to become a donor can help as many as 50 people in need of a transplant.

According to CORE, additional facts about organ, tissue and cornea donation include:

n More than 8,000 patients are awaiting life-saving organ transplants in Pennsylvania, along with more than 800 patients in West Virginia. Thousands of others could benefit from life-enhancing tissue transplants.

n With at least 60,000 people waiting nationally, kidneys are the organ in greatest demand, followed by liver, heart and lungs.

n Because conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are often more prevalent in the minority community, minorities make up more than 50 percent of the people on the national organ transplant list.

For more information about organ, tissue and cornea donation, visit online at www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.