Global Cardiac Alliance

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.

03/12/2026

Every year, 1.5 million children are born with heart defects. 🫀

Most of them live in places where there is no one trained to save them.

Many organizations fly in, operate on a handful of children, and fly out. They call it a mission, but when the plane leaves, nothing has changed.

The surgeons are gone. The skills didn't transfer. And the next child born with a heart defect has nowhere to go.

Here's what's really needed: it's not a visit. It's a commitment.

Years of mentorship. Dozens of trips. Training local surgeons, nurses, and perfusionists until they can do it themselves.

That's what we do at the Global Cardiac Alliance. 🌍

We don't just save children. We build the teams that will save thousands more after we're gone.

I'm Dr. Bill Novick. I've spent over 30 years operating in 36 countries.

And I've learned that the only way to truly solve this crisis is to train local teams to carry on without us.

If you believe a child's survival shouldn't depend on where they were born, follow this page. ❤️

Comment HEART and I'll send you our impact report showing what these programs actually build.

03/11/2026

I've been doing this for over 30 years across 36 countries. I've operated on thousands of children. And I'm not ashamed to admit:

1. I still feel the weight of every child we lose. After all these years it hasn't gotten easier. You just learn to carry it differently. Every loss reminds me why this work matters and why we have to keep training local teams so fewer children fall through the cracks.

2. I worry that people see the mission photos and think the job is done. One successful trip doesn't fix a country's cardiac surgery gap. The real work is invisible. It's the years of training, the late night calls with local surgeons asking for guidance, the slow unglamorous process of building a team from scratch.

3. I wonder if we're moving fast enough. Every year 1.5 million children are born with heart defects. 90% have no access to surgery. We've built programs in more than 2 dozen countries but the need is staggering. Some nights that math keeps me up.

4. I've operated during civil wars, power outages, and with equipment held together by ingenuity. In Libya we trained a team that kept operating through a war. In Ukraine the program survived conflict because the local team was ready. Those moments remind me that people are more resilient than we give them credit for.

Just doing the best I can over here. One trained team at a time. 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.

03/10/2026

Congenital heart defects sound terrifying and the diagnosis can feel like the end of the world. But here's what I tell every parent I meet: most heart defects can be fixed. Your child can live a full, normal life. 🫀

Here's what every parent should know:
🩺 It's more common than you think
🩺 Early detection saves lives
🩺 Most defects are fixable
🩺 The real crisis isn't the disease. It's access.
🩺 One trained local team changes everything
🩺 Know the warning signs

Rapid breathing, bluish skin or lips, poor feeding, excessive sweating during feeding, and failure to gain weight can all be signs of a heart defect in newborns. Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, ask for a cardiac evaluation.

Your child's heart defect is not a death sentence. It's a condition with a solution. The question is whether that solution is available where they live.

We're working to make sure it is. Everywhere. 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.

03/09/2026

30+ years as a pediatric heart surgeon, yet people NEVER believe me when I say this…👀

Here it is: Most congenital heart defects are completely fixable. When parents hear "heart surgery," their minds go to the worst outcome, but here's reality:

Children with holes in their hearts grow up to run marathons.

Babies born blue become healthy teenagers.

Kids who needed surgery at 6 months are now adults with families.

Survival rates for many defects exceed 95% when treated properly.

The problem isn't that these conditions are unfixable.
The problem is access.

In wealthy countries, children get diagnosed and treated.
In low income countries, the same children die waiting for surgery that never comes.
Not because it's impossible. Because the infrastructure doesn't exist.

That's what we're changing through the Global Cardiac Alliance.
We're building permanent capacity so children everywhere have access to life saving care.

A heart defect doesn't have to be a death sentence. For any child. Anywhere.
Follow us to see how we're making this reality ❤️‍🩹

03/07/2026

🔬 Capacity building. Why global health and pediatric cardiac surgery are finally paying attention.

For decades, the model lived in one lane: fly in a Western surgical team for a week, operate on as many kids as possible, fly home, post the photos.

It looked heroic. It felt meaningful. But the data told a different story.

Here's what actually happens with traditional "fly in, fly out" missions:
📉 Local teams don't learn because they're watching, not doing
📉 Equipment gets donated but no one is trained to maintain it
📉 The surgical team leaves and the waiting list grows right back
📉 Kids who develop complications post surgery have no specialized follow up
📉 The country remains entirely dependent on foreign teams returning

Now here's what happens when you stay for 3 to 7 years and build local capacity:
📈 Local surgeons perform the operations independently
📈 ICU nurses, perfusionists, and anesthesiologists are fully trained
📈 The program becomes self sustaining without foreign teams
📈 Outcomes improve year over year because the team gains experience
📈 Thousands of children get access to surgery, not just the few who were lucky enough to be there during mission week

This isn't a philosophical debate. It's a fundamentally different model with fundamentally different results.

Short term missions serve a purpose and save individual lives. That matters. But if the goal is to actually solve the problem of 90% of children with heart defects having no access to surgery, the model has to change.

That's what the Global Cardiac Alliance has been doing since 2014. We don't visit. We embed. We train. We stay until the local team doesn't need us anymore.

This is how charity becomes sustainability. 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.

03/06/2026

I've seen this far too often. A baby who seemed "fine" at birth. Parents who were told everything looked normal. Then weeks or months later, the child is rushed to a hospital in critical condition with a heart defect that could have been caught earlier.

Most congenital heart defects don't announce themselves dramatically at birth. But the signs are there if you know what to look for.

Here are 6 early signs a baby's body may give you:
1️⃣ Bluish lips or fingertips
2️⃣ Breathing too fast or working too hard to breathe
3️⃣ Trouble feeding or tiring during feeds
4️⃣ Poor weight gain
5️⃣ Excessive sweating
6️⃣ Frequent lung infections

In developed countries, routine screening catches most of these early. In much of the developing world, families have no access to screening, no specialists, and no second chance.

That's exactly why we train local teams. A nurse who knows these signs. A pediatrician with access to an echocardiogram. A surgeon ready to operate. That chain saves lives. 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help

03/05/2026

For years the approach to children dying from heart defects in developing countries was the same: send more surgeons…

You can fly the best pediatric cardiac surgeon in the world into a country with no trained perfusionist, no pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, no specialized ICU nurses, and no post operative follow up system. That surgeon can operate brilliantly for a week. But the moment they leave, children start dying again.

We stopped visiting and started staying. 3 to 7 years at each site. Training every member of the team. Surgeons, nurses, perfusionists, anesthesiologists, cardiologists. Building the entire ecosystem that keeps a child alive from diagnosis through surgery through recovery.

After 10+ years of this model through the Global Cardiac Alliance, here's what we've seen:

🫀 Local teams performing complex surgeries independently
🫀 Programs surviving civil wars because the local team was ready
🫀 Countries that had zero pediatric cardiac surgery now saving hundreds of children per year
🫀 Outcomes improving year over year as teams gain experience

The crisis isn't that children are born with heart defects. The crisis is that 90% of them are born where no one can fix it. Yet.

We're changing that. One trained team at a time. 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.

03/05/2026

Idlib, Syria 🇸🇾 Update!

With an abundance of caution the trip has been cancelled for now. Those who were waiting in Istanbul have made their way home. The members who are in Dubai and Doha are still stranded, but safe. Rumors are circulating that Dubai will reopen their airspace on March 7, but no word about Doha. We are sad that we are not be able to be helpful in Syria at this time, but look forward to making that trip when the region has settled down. Simultaneously, we are grateful that everyone is safe and can return home, thank you for your interest and support! We will update you when we know the team members are on their way to their respective homes.

03/04/2026

💥 The biggest lie in global health? "We saved lives this week."

You've seen the photos. A Western surgical team flies into a developing country, operates on a handful of children with heart defects, takes photos with smiling families, and flies home. The fundraising emails write themselves. The donors feel great. Everyone wins.

Except the hundreds of kids still on the waiting list who won't get surgery until the next team visits. If they visit again at all.

Now here's what sustainable capacity building looks like:

✅ A local surgeon in Nigeria performing complex pediatric heart surgeries independently

✅ A trained ICU team in Ukraine managing post operative care without foreign oversight

✅ A program in Libya that continued operating through a civil war because the local team was fully trained

✅ Children getting life saving surgery from doctors who speak their language, understand their culture, and live in their community

After 30+ years across 36 countries, I measure success by one thing: can the local team do it without us? 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.

03/03/2026

🩺 You're not watching for heart defects. You're watching your baby grow and hoping everything is fine.
ㅤ
I say this with compassion but most parents don't know what to look for. And most pediatricians in developing countries don't have the training or tools to catch it early.
ㅤ
Then the child gets sicker. And by the time someone realizes it's the heart, it can be too late.
ㅤ
Here's what every parent should watch for in a newborn or infant:
✅ Bluish tint to the lips, fingernails, or skin especially during feeding or crying
✅ Rapid breathing or working hard to breathe even while resting
✅ Poor feeding or tiring quickly during breastfeeding or bottle feeding
✅ Excessive sweating during feeding even in a cool room
✅ Failure to gain weight or grow at a normal rate
✅ Swelling in the legs, belly, or around the eyes
✅ Frequent respiratory infections or pneumonia that keeps coming back
ㅤ
📌 Bonus: A simple pulse oximetry test can detect many heart defects within hours of birth. It takes less than a minute. It's painless. And in many countries it's not yet part of routine newborn screening.
ㅤ
One missed sign doesn't make you a bad parent. But knowing what to look for could save your child's life.
ㅤ
In developed countries these signs are usually caught quickly because the screening systems exist. In much of the developing world, families are on their own. No screening. No specialists. No second chance.
ㅤ
That's why training local teams matters. A trained nurse in Nigeria who recognizes these signs and refers the baby for an echocardiogram is just as important as the surgeon who performs the operation.
ㅤ
Early detection is the first step. Access to surgery is the second. We're working on both. 🫀🌍
ㅤ
Don't guess. Don't wait. If something feels wrong with your baby, trust your instincts and ask for a cardiac evaluation.
ㅤ
🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.
ㅤ
🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.
ㅤ

03/02/2026

I'll let you in on a secret 🤫 there is no secret.

Here are 10 things the most successful programs do:

🫀 They train the ENTIRE team, not just the surgeon
🫀 They commit to years, not weeks
🫀 They let local teams lead as early as possible
🫀 They track outcomes obsessively
🫀 They don't just donate equipment, they train people to use and maintain it
🫀 They build relationships with local governments and hospitals
🫀 They start with simpler cases and build complexity over time
🫀 They create a culture of accountability, not blame
🫀 They invest in post operative care as much as surgical skill
🫀 They define success as the day they leave and the program thrives without them

Just consistency, commitment, and a belief that every child on earth deserves access to life saving heart surgery regardless of where they were born. 🫀🌍

🔥 Follow us to learn how we're building sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programs worldwide.

🔗 Link in bio to see how to help.

03/01/2026

Idlib, Syria 🇸🇾 Update!

As everyone knows, the Middle East is currently experiencing civil unrest and drone/missile strikes from Iran. All our team members are accounted for and safe! Airspace has been closed in the area halting all air travel. This has affected the team as individuals are currently trapped in Doha, Qatar, Dubai, UAE, and Istanbul, Türkiye. Each of the team members have agreed to alter their schedules and stay longer to complete the trip as planned, simply shifting the dates if they are able to get into Idlib via ground transport within the next few days. Rest assured that Dr. Novick is in communication with government of Syria and the best and safest decisions will be made not only for the team, but also the kids needing surgery. We will keep you updated as we learn more. Please keep the team and kids in your thoughts and prayers! 🙏

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Memphis, TN
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Telephone

(901) 302-9500

Website

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.