Global Cardiac Alliance

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Global Cardiac Alliance

Every Child Deserves World-Class Heart Care. No Matter Where They Are In The World.

The Global Cardiac Alliance is committed to sustainable health care for children with cardiac disease in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). Since Global Cardiac Alliance launched in 2014, we’ve remained committed to the highest level of transparency and reporting as a leading international charity, serving hundreds of children each year who are born with heart disease. The Global Cardiac Alliance has earned GuideStar’s 2020 Platinum Seal of Transparency by publicly sharing our key metrics and highlighting the impact we’re making in children’s lives around the world. We’re also honored to have 100-OUT-OF-100 “Give with Confidence” rating for Accounting and Finance by Charity Navigator, a trusted resource for donors and investors.

12/12/2025

This one hit different… 💔

You've been hearing about medical missions for years. Reading about doctors flying in to save children. Celebrating the stories that make the news. And now you're wondering why things haven't gotten better.

Here's what no one explains about the gap in pediatric cardiac care:

The problem isn't just about money. It's about time. When you only visit a country 2-3 times per year, local teams never get enough experience to become independent. They perform surgery with the visiting team, then wait months before doing it again. They lose confidence. They lose skills. They lose hope ❤️‍🩹

Now add in the 1.3 million children born with heart defects every year. Add in the 90% who have no access to care. Add in the healthcare systems that are overwhelmed and underfunded.

Those children don't stand a chance.

This isn't about doing one more mission and calling it progress. It's about fundamentally changing how we approach global cardiac care. Staying for years. Building real teams. Creating independence.

Follow for more on what real change looks like ❤️

12/11/2025

I'm a pediatric cardiac surgeon and I'm not ashamed to admit this… 👀

I've watched families travel thousands of kilometers only to be told there's no one who can help. Being told it's too complicated. Being told their child will die and there's nothing anyone can do. Being sent home without hope.

I'm also not ashamed to admit that the traditional aid model isn't designed to help them. It's designed for quick wins, not sustainable change. It's designed for photo opportunities, not long-term mentorship. It's designed around metrics that look good in reports, not outcomes that change lives 🔬

I'm not ashamed to admit that most heart disease in children is treatable when you actually build the capacity to treat it. That the countries who've been told there's no hope have watched their own surgeons operate independently when someone finally invested in training them.

Visit our website to join us in building sustainable cardiac care worldwide ❤️

12/10/2025

Non-negotiables for donors who actually want to create lasting change… 👀

If you're giving money to global health AND you've been frustrated that nothing seems to get better... this is for you.

These outcomes aren't separate. They're all connected to the same root problems. And if you want real impact, you have to stop accepting whatever story sounds good.

Non-negotiables from a pediatric cardiac surgeon:

✓ Ask about sustainability – Not just "how many surgeries" but "what happens after you leave?" Any charity worth supporting can answer this clearly.

✓ Check the timeline – Real capacity building takes 3-7 years. If they promise transformation in 3-7 visits, be skeptical.

✓ Look for training metrics – How many local surgeons have they trained? How many are now operating independently? Numbers matter.

✓ Assess the partnership model – Are they working WITH local governments and hospitals, or just parachuting in? Sustainable programs require local buy-in.

✓ Stop rewarding volume over impact – "We did 50 surgeries" means nothing if the next 500 children have no one to help them. Ask about the system, not just the stories.

✓ Demand transparency – Real organizations share their challenges, not just their wins. If everything looks perfect, something's hidden 🔬

How many of these have you actually asked about? ⬇️❤️

12/09/2025

10 things that are slowly reducing your child's chance of surviving heart surgery that parents in developing countries never expect… 💔

1. Delayed diagnosis – Many children aren't diagnosed until they're already too sick. No local cardiologist means no early detection.

2. Malnutrition before surgery – Babies with heart defects struggle to feed. By the time they reach a surgeon, their bodies are too weak to handle the operation.

3. Traveling hundreds of kilometers – Families sell everything to reach the one hospital that might help. Many babies don't survive the journey.

4. Waiting lists that don't move – There's one pediatric cardiac surgeon for every 33 million people in Africa. Your child could wait years for a surgery they need tomorrow.

5. Untrained ICU staff – The surgery can be perfect. But if the nurses don't know how to manage post-op care, that child won't make it through the night.

6. No blood bank – Heart surgery requires blood. Many hospitals in developing countries don't have reliable access to safe blood supply.

7. Equipment that breaks – A donated heart-lung machine means nothing when it breaks and no one knows how to fix it.

8. No follow-up care – These children need monitoring for life. When the foreign team leaves, who's checking on your baby six months later?

9. Power outages mid-surgery – Unreliable electricity in hospitals can mean life or death when a child is on the operating table.

10. Foreign teams that don't come back – A mission team operates on 30 kids and calls it a success. The other 200 children on the waiting list are still waiting 🔬

This is why we don't fly in and fly out. We stay for 3-7 years until local teams can save these children on their own.

Visit our website to help us train local surgeons and give every child a fighting chance ❤️

12/08/2025

Every single person who donates to help children with heart defects has a good heart. Full stop. That generosity is something to celebrate… 🤍

So this isn't criticism. It's an invitation to dream bigger.

"We saved 50 kids" is a beautiful headline. But can I show you an even more beautiful one?
"Local surgeons now save 500 kids per year – on their own." ✨

That's the difference between a mission trip and a movement.

Here's what most people don't realize about pediatric heart surgery:
It's not one person. It's not one skill. It's an orchestra 🎻

You need cardiologists who can spot a heart defect in a newborn. Surgeons who can repair a hole the size of a pencil eraser. Anesthesiologists who can keep a 6-pound baby stable for 8 hours. Perfusionists who run machines that literally breathe for the child. ICU nurses who don't sleep for three days because one wrong number on the monitor could mean everything.

Training that team takes YEARS. Not trips. Years.
We've been doing this since 1993. We've learned that the only way to truly save children is to train the people who live there to save them. We visit 3-6 times per year for 3-7 years. We mentor. We teach. We step back. We let local teams lead while we support. And eventually? We leave 🫀

Not because we gave up. Because they don't need us anymore. Your generosity deserves to create something that lasts forever, follow for more on how we're building local heroes, not foreign ones 👀

12/06/2025

Nobody wants to hear this, but one surgery won't save a healthcare system… 👀

I'm a pediatric cardiac surgeon and these are the 5 hard truths I tell donors about global heart surgery...

Hard truth #1: 1.3 million children are born with heart defects every year. Over 90% don't have access to care.

Hard truth #2: In Africa, there's only 1 pediatric cardiac surgeon per 33 million people. In the US, it's 1 per 3 million.

Hard truth #3: Flying in and flying out doesn't build capacity. It creates dependency. The local team learns nothing and the children keep dying after you leave.

Hard truth #4: Training a pediatric cardiac team takes 3-7 years of consistent mentorship. Not 3-7 trips. Years.

Hard truth #5: The countries with the highest birth rates have the fewest cardiac surgeons. The gap is widening, not closing 🔬

Which hard truth hit you the hardest? Drop a number below ❤️

12/05/2025

If I could tell every donor just one thing, it would be this… 👀

Your donation is a symptom of your values, not the solution itself.

Most donors spend years giving to causes like they're checking a box. They donate to whatever asks, whatever looks good, whatever makes them feel like they've done their part. They give thousands of dollars to things that promise results. And nothing sticks because they're treating the symptom of wanting to help while the real solution goes completely unaddressed.

A child's heart surgery is one of the most complex medical procedures. It requires optimal surgical teams, trained nurses, functioning equipment, and years of follow-up care to succeed. When any of these systems are missing, the child doesn't survive 🔬

When I talk to donors who've given to everything, we always find the same thing. Their money isn't the issue. Their approach is. Their giving strategy is. Their understanding of what creates lasting change is.

Your donation is just the messenger. It's telling you what you value. And until you understand what sustainable impact requires, nothing will change.

Visit out website to support sustainable pediatric cardiac care ❤️

12/04/2025

Your donation might not be doing what you think it's doing… 👀

Idk who needs to hear this but if you're supporting medical missions that fly in, operate, and fly out without training local teams... You're funding a bandaid, not a solution.

Here's what most people don't know…A typical mission trip operates on 20-50 children over two weeks. In a country where 7,000 babies are born with heart defects every year, and half of them need surgery to survive, 50 kids is a drop in the ocean.

Now here's the part that keeps me up at night: When that team flies home, the waiting list doesn't shrink. It grows. The local doctors who watched the surgery? They don't get to practice. They won't see another case for months.

The ICU nurses who helped with post-op care? They lose confidence because no one stayed to mentor them through the next 100 cases.Meanwhile, babies with blue lips keep showing up. And there's no one trained to help them.

We've seen this pattern in 36 countries. Local hospitals with potential. Staff desperate to learn. Children dying, not because the doctors don't care, but because no one invested the TIME to train them 🔬

Training a pediatric cardiac surgeon takes 7+ years. Training a full team – anesthesiologists, perfusionists, ICU nurses, cardiologists – takes even longer. You can't do that in a two-week trip. You can't do it in 10 trips.You have to STAY.

That's why we commit to 3-7 years at every site. We don't leave until the local team can save their own children without us.

Have you ever asked a charity what happens after they leave? Drop your answer below ⬇️❤️

12/03/2025

I'll never forget what a local surgeon in Libya told me… 💔

She said, "Before you came, I watched children die because I didn't have the skills to save them. Now I can." That hit me.

She had been trained. She was capable. But no one had invested the time to mentor her through enough cases. No one had stayed long enough to build her confidence. No one had believed that a local surgeon in a conflict zone could become world-class.

She spent years watching children die from treatable conditions. Years feeling helpless. Years knowing she could do more if someone would just teach her.

When we finally committed to staying, year after year, trip after trip, everything changed. Her skills improved. Her confidence grew. Her team started functioning independently 🔬

Now she operates without us. Saves lives without us. Trains others without us. And I didn't do the surgery. She did.

Your donation can help train the next surgeon. Visit our website to support sustainable cardiac care ❤️

12/02/2025

I'm about to tell you the real reason children with heart disease are dying in developing countries and it has nothing to do with money alone… 💔

You've been told it's about resources. That these countries are too poor. That there's nothing anyone can do but accept it.

I've operated on over 10,000 children in 36 countries. I've seen hospitals with brand new equipment sitting unused. I've met brilliant local doctors who've never been given the chance to lead a surgery.
I've watched families travel for days, only to be told the visiting team already left.

Poverty sets the stage. But something else is determining who lives and who dies.

The real reasons children are dying:
💔 No trained teams – Operating on a baby's heart requires years of specialized training. In Africa, there's 1 pediatric cardiac surgeon for every 33 million people. In the US, it's 1 per 3 million. Most countries have zero.

💔 No sustainable programs – Foreign teams fly in, operate on 30 children, and fly home. The other 1,000 babies on the waiting list? They wait. Sometimes forever.

💔 No mentorship model – Local doctors are eager. They're capable. They WANT to learn. But no one stays long enough to teach them. You can't master heart surgery by watching it twice a year.

💔 No equipment maintenance – A $30,000 heart-lung machine gets donated. It breaks six months later. No one knows how to fix it. It becomes an expensive paperweight.

💔 No follow-up care – A child survives surgery but needs lifelong cardiology support. The foreign team is gone. There's no one to monitor that baby's heart at 6 months, 2 years, 10 years.

💔 No system building – Individual surgeries don't build healthcare systems. You need years of investment in people, not just procedures.

Here's what we do differently:
We don't do mission trips. We do 3-7 year commitments.

We visit each site 3-6 times per year – not to perform surgeries FOR them, but to train local teams to do it THEMSELVES.

Every trip, local surgeons operate more. Local nurses lead more. Local teams gain confidence. We do less on purpose – until they don't need us anymore.

In Libya, we've done nearly 1,000 surgeries since 2012. The local team now operates independently – in an active conflict zone, without us.

In Ukraine, surgeons we trained are saving children's lives during a war.
THAT'S what sustainable change looks like. Not flying in heroes. Building local ones 🫀

12/01/2025

They don't tell you that you'll hold space for parents praying in hallways of hospitals that don't have the equipment to save their child's life...

They don't tell you that you'll be the first foreign surgeon to actually stay. To come back. To keep your promises. To watch local doctors become experts.

They don't tell you that this work is so much bigger than surgery.

What no one tells you is that this work changes you. That you'll hear stories that break your heart. Families who sold everything for a chance at treatment. Children who traveled for days to reach a hospital. Parents who were told by everyone else that there was no hope 🫀

What no one tells you is that watching local teams operate independently after being told it was impossible never gets old. That the before and after isn't just about survival rates. It's about a country that got its dignity back. A healthcare system that can serve its own children.

What no one tells you is that every success story started with a team that was told nothing could be done. Who were ready to give up. Who took one more chance on building something sustainable.

This work isn't about foreign doctors being heroes. It's about believing local teams can be heroes too.

What would you want to know about this work? Drop your questions below ⬇️❤️

11/29/2025

If you're searching for a charity that actually saves children's lives long after the doctors go home, this is for you… 👀

I know you're out there. You want to help a child survive heart surgery. But you've seen the posts, foreign doctors fly in, operate on 30 kids, take photos, and fly home.

What happens to the other 300 children still waiting? What happens when the machines break? What happens when that baby needs follow-up care and the team is gone?
Nothing. That's what.

Here's what actually works:
We don't visit countries. We stay for 3-7 years. We train local surgeons until they can operate without us. We build teams that last forever – not trips that last two weeks 🔬

1.3 million babies are born with heart defects every year. 90% will never get surgery. We're changing that, one local team at a time.

Visit our website to be part of something that lasts ❤️

Address

1750 Madison Avenue Suite 500
Memphis, TN
38104

Telephone

(901) 302-9500

Website

https://cardiac-alliance.org/, https://linktr.ee/cardiacalliance

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Our Story

The Novick Cardiac Alliance is committed to bringing sustainable health care solutions to children with cardiac disease in the developing world. We are dedicated to improving the skills, knowledge, technology and experience of local health care providers in regions of the world without access to quality Pediatric Cardiac Care. We aim to provide comprehensive care to all children with congenital or acquired heart disease regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, political ideation, genetic factors or economic means. Our vision is that in the future all children with heart disease, no matter where they are born, will be able to receive the medical and surgical care they require to live a long and healthy life.