The Center for Organ Recovery and Education or CORE is a federally designated organ procurement program.

The Pittsburgh-based not-for-profit started in 1977 and serves hospitals in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Need for the program developed because of Dr. Thomas Starzl, known as the “father of modern transplantation,” performing the first liver transplant in 1963.

Patients are referred to one of six transplant programs in CORE’s area: UPMC Presbyterian, UPMC Hamot, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Allegheny General Hospital, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and Charleston Area Medical Center.

Butler Memorial Hospital is not a transplant hospital, but still plays a vital role in the transplant process, according to Katelynn Metz, CORE communications coordinator.

“Physicians at community hospitals without transplant hospitals can help provide routine and ongoing care for transplant patients,” Metz said.

There are 113,000 people awaiting surgery on the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network list. But only about three in 1,000 people become donors when they die, according to statistics provided by CORE.

“Which means that 22 people die each day waiting for a life-saving organ,” Metz said.

The number of Butler County residents waiting for a transplant is unclear. The national organ waiting list is broken down by state, not by counties.

Local support for transplants is apparent. According to CORE, more than half of the residents of Butler County are registered organ donors.

About 50 percent of Pennsylvanians are registered organ donors, lower than the national average of 54 to 58 percent.

However, Butler County registers above the average at 56 percent.

“Butler County residents can take pride in knowing that their county is among the counties with the highest designation rate,” Metz said.

When matching a patient to an organ, several qualifications apply: blood type, body size, medical condition, distance between donor and patient hospitals, and the patient’s wait time and condition. Patients in need of organs other than livers or kidneys must wait for a transplant from a deceased donor.

Livers and kidneys can be taken from living donors, providing many patients with another option. While these two transplants are the most common types of living-donor organ procedures, people can also donate tissues, such as skin, bone marrow and blood-forming cells like stem cells.

In the Pittsburgh region, 2,238 residents are waiting for a transplant. UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside lists 1,005. The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has 681. Allegheny General Hospital records show 415. And UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh has 137 children on its list.