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 Alli

ance 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.

Libya Update! 🇱🇾 The team has been hard at work! So far 24 patients have had surgery and they are doing great! One we...
04/25/2026

Libya Update! 🇱🇾 The team has been hard at work! So far 24 patients have had surgery and they are doing great! One week left! There have been some extremely complicated cases and we are happy to report all have done well! One patient was diagnosed with Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery (ALCAPA). ALCAPA is a rare, life-threatening congenital heart defect where the left coronary artery originates from the pulmonary artery instead of the aorta. This causes oxygen poor blood to supply the heart muscle, leading to ischemia, heart failure, and possible death. Prompt corrective surgery is imperative for survival. Symptoms include failure to thrive; poor feeding, severe distress, rapid breathing, pale skin, and excessive sweating. It can be corrected by re-implanting the left coronary artery into the aorta. A video of the patient is posted in the comments!

04/25/2026

💔 If you have ever donated to a medical mission and wondered why the need never seems to get smaller, this is why.

The model most charities are running has not been seriously questioned in decades. And the children paying the price for that silence are not in the fundraising videos.

Here is what the evidence actually shows:

🔍 What donors are almost never told:

🌱A team arrives, operates on a small number of children, and leaves. The list was long before they came. It is long after they go. No one is measuring whether it is getting shorter.

🌱The local team is still not operating independently after years of missions
If a country has received visits for a decade and its surgeons are still not leading cases alone, the program has not built anything. It has maintained a dependency.

🌱The children who were too young this trip will age out before the next one
The surgical window for many congenital heart defects is narrow. Annual visits do not move fast enough for a child whose heart is failing in the months between.

🌱Your donation funded the trip. Not the infrastructure.
Equipment comes in with the team and leaves with the team. The hospital has nothing when they go. The next child has nowhere to go either.

🌱The success story you saw was real. It just was not the whole story.
One child helped is not a system built. And the child behind them in the queue deserves the same chance.

You deserve to know what your giving can actually build.

“If this resonates and you want to be part of the solution...

We’re committed to helping local medical teams perform life-saving surgeries every single day, providing the support and resources they need to treat patients who would otherwise go without care.

👉 Comment “HEART” below and we’ll send you your Free Impact Report so you can see how your support is helping change lives❤️‍🩹

04/24/2026

Here is what is actually killing children with heart disease in developing countries — and nobody is talking about it:

Assuming a child who looks okay has nothing seriously wrong? 🫀
→ Congenital heart defects are silent for months or years before the symptoms become impossible to ignore. By then the window to operate safely is often already narrowing.

Donating to a mission that flies in once a year and calling it enough? ✈️
→ One visit per year is not a program. It is a visit. The children on the waiting list are not waiting once a year. They are waiting every single day.

Watching a child get slower and quieter and putting it down to temperament? 😔
→ Fatigue, poor growth, and breathlessness in a child are clinical signals. Not personality traits.

Trusting that "nothing can be done" because a local doctor said so? 🏥
→ In most low income countries the barrier is not medicine. It is the absence of a trained local surgeon. The surgery exists. The access does not.

Measuring a mission's success by how many surgeries were performed? 📊
→ Operations completed tells you nothing about what the country can do after the team leaves. That is the only number that matters.

Believing that where a child was born determines whether they survive? 🌍
→ It currently does. It does not have to.

Pediatric cardiac care is not just about sending surgeons. It is training, infrastructure, diagnostics, and a commitment to stay.

Fix the model. Not just the moment.

“If this resonates and you want to be part of the solution...

We’re committed to helping local medical teams perform life-saving surgeries every single day, providing the support and resources they need to treat patients who would otherwise go without care.

👉 Comment “HEART” below and we’ll send you your Free Impact Report so you can see how your support is helping change lives❤️‍🩹

04/23/2026

You have normalized them so deeply you do not even question them anymore. 👇

🚨 Tiring faster than every other child during play or feeding. It feels like personality. Over time, it is a pattern worth investigating.

🚨 A bluish tint around the lips or fingertips that comes and goes. This is not a circulation quirk. It is a cardiac signal.

🚨 Skipping the cardiac evaluation because nothing feels urgent. Some of the most serious defects show up before the symptoms become impossible to ignore.

🚨 Recurring chest infections that never fully resolve. Most families are told it is respiratory. Often the cause is the heart working too hard.

🚨 Poor weight gain despite regular feeding and assuming it is appetite. The body is diverting energy to compensate for what the heart cannot do.

🚨 Breathing that seems slightly faster or harder than it should be and just pushing through. This is worth flagging. Every time.

🚨 Swelling around the eyes, legs, or abdomen without a clear explanation. In children this is often the heart beginning to struggle.

🚨 Assuming there is nothing that can be done. That this is just how your child is. It does not have to be.

Most of this is catchable. And catching it early protects both the window for surgery and your child's outcome.

“If this resonates and you want to be part of the solution...

We’re committed to helping local medical teams perform life-saving surgeries every single day, providing the support and resources they need to treat patients who would otherwise go without care.

👉 Comment “HEART” below and we’ll send you your Free Impact Report so you can see how your support is helping change lives❤️‍🩹

Here are some more cuties from Libya! 🇱🇾
04/22/2026

Here are some more cuties from Libya! 🇱🇾

04/22/2026

👁 After 30 plus years operating on children's hearts across 36 countries, here is what I wish more parents heard before it was too late:

1. Waiting to see if it gets better is not a strategy. A congenital heart defect will not resolve on its own. Every month of delay narrows the surgical window. The best time to push for an evaluation was earlier. The second best time is now.

2. Being told there is nothing wrong does not mean there is nothing wrong. It means the right test was not run. A basic check is not a cardiac workup. If something feels off, ask specifically for an echocardiogram.

3. Accepting a diagnosis of "just a murmur" without follow up is the most common mistake I see. Some murmurs are innocent. Others are not. You deserve to know which one your child has.

4. Assuming surgery is not possible because no one has offered it is not the same as surgery not existing. In most developing countries the barrier is access, not medicine. The procedure exists. The trained surgeon may not be there yet.

5. Fear is valid. But it is not a reason to stop asking questions. Every family I have operated with felt it. The ones who kept pushing got their child to the table in time.

Your child's heart touches everything. You deserve to stop hoping and start knowing.

“If this resonates and you want to be part of the solution...

We’re committed to helping local medical teams perform life-saving surgeries every single day, providing the support and resources they need to treat patients who would otherwise go without care.

👉 Comment “HEART” below and we’ll send you your Free Impact Report so you can see how your support is helping change lives❤️‍🩹

Libya update! 🇱🇾 Here are some of the patients who have had surgery and are doing great!
04/21/2026

Libya update! 🇱🇾 Here are some of the patients who have had surgery and are doing great!

04/21/2026

Here is what happens every time a country is left without a sustainable cardiac program:

👁 The hardest truth in global health is that the problem was never a shortage of willing doctors. It was a shortage of trained local ones.

❌ A child arrives with a fixable defect and is sent home to wait for a visiting team

❌ The visiting team comes once a year — the child deteriorates in the months between

❌ Local doctors know what the problem is but have never been taught to fix it

❌ The family is told nothing can be done — when the truth is no one built the capacity to do it

❌ The cycle repeats for the next child, and the one after that

I have spent 30 plus years in operating rooms across 36 countries. I have watched this happen in country after country.

Here is what breaks the cycle:

✅ Committing 3 to 7 years to each site
✅ Returning 3 to 6 times per year, not once
✅ Training local surgeons until they lead every case independently
✅ Building the ICU, the diagnostics, and the supply chain simultaneously
✅ Leaving behind a program that functions without us

The question is not how many children did the visiting team save. It is how many children can the country save after the visitors stop coming.

That is the only number that matters.

“If this resonates and you want to be part of the solution...

We’re committed to helping local medical teams perform life-saving surgeries every single day, providing the support and resources they need to treat patients who would otherwise go without care.

❤️ Comment “HEART” below and we’ll send you your Free Impact Report so you can see how your support is helping change lives❤️‍🩹

04/20/2026

💔 I say this with love, but most families wait too long. And by the time they act, the window has already narrowed.

You are not ignoring the signs. You are just not recognising them as signs yet.

Here is what to stop doing:

❌ Putting the breathlessness down to being an active child. Breathlessness that appears during feeding or rest is not normal. It is cardiac until proven otherwise.

❌ Assuming the bluish tint around the lips is a circulation quirk. It is not. It is a signal that the blood is not carrying enough oxygen.

❌ Accepting "wait and see" as a final answer. In a child with a suspected heart defect, waiting without a diagnosis is not a neutral choice. The surgical window closes quietly.

❌ Trusting a stethoscope and a standard check as a complete cardiac evaluation. It is not. Ask specifically for an echocardiogram.

❌ Assuming that because your child looks okay, they are okay. Congenital heart defects compensate silently for months or years before the crisis becomes visible.

❌ Waiting for a second opinion until the symptoms become undeniable. By then the repair is more complex and the outcome less certain.

Here is what to do instead:
✅ Push for a cardiac evaluation if more than one sign is present
✅ Ask for an echocardiogram by name
✅ Do not accept reassurance without the test to back it up
✅ Trust your instinct as a parent, it is a clinical signal

Do not guess. Do not wait. Do not let a fixable problem become an irreversible one.

“If this resonates and you want to be part of the solution...

We’re committed to helping local medical teams perform life-saving surgeries every single day, providing the support and resources they need to treat patients who would otherwise go without care.

❤️ Comment “HEART” below and we’ll send you your Free Impact Report so you can see how your support is helping change lives❤️‍🩹

04/18/2026

🫀 By the time most families notice something is wrong, the window to operate safely is already closing…

Know the signs ‼️

📊 Early warning:

- Tires faster than other children during play or feeding
- Bluish tint around the lips or fingertips
- Breathing faster or harder than it should be at rest

Urgent:

- Poor weight gain despite regular feeding
- Chest infections that keep coming back
- Swelling around the eyes, legs, or abdomen

🏥 What to do:

- Push for a cardiac evaluation if more than one sign is present
- Do not accept wait and see as a final answer
- Ask specifically about an echocardiogram

Do not let a fixable problem become an irreversible one. Comment HEART to get the impact report…❤️

04/17/2026

👁 The hardest truth in global health is that good intentions do not equal good outcomes…

Here is what happens every time a foreign surgical team flies in and flies out:

- The visiting team performs every surgery themselves, local doctors observe but never lead
- When complications arise after the team flies home, there is no one trained to manage them
- The local hospital does not gain a single new capability
- Children who were too young for surgery this trip will age out before the next visit
- The cycle repeats year after year with zero progress toward independence

I have spent 30 plus years in operating rooms across 36 countries. I have seen this model fail communities over and over.

Here is what actually works:

- Committing 3 to 7 years to each site
- Making 3 to 6 trips per year, not one
- Every surgery becomes a live training session for the local team
- Local surgeons lead cases with mentored guidance until they are confident
- The program has an exit strategy, because the goal is to become unnecessary

The question is not how many children did the visiting team save. It is how many children can the local team save after the visitors leave.

That is the only metric that matters.

❤️ Comment HEART to get the impact report.

04/16/2026

A video from Dr Novick in Tripoli, Libya 🇱🇾 Lots of great things happening there currently…. ❤️

Address

1750 Madison Avenue Suite 500
Memphis, TN
38104

Telephone

(901) 302-9500

Website

https://linktr.ee/cardiacalliance

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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.