Heart to Heart Global Cardiac Care

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Vision: A child born with a heart defect, anywhere in the world, will have access to cardiac care.

Heart to Heart Global Cardiac Care fka Heart to Heart International Children's Medical Alliance

09/29/2026

Greetings from San José, Costa Rica! This week, a team of Heart to Heart specialists are working side-by-side at Costa Rica’s National Children’s Hospital and adjacent adult hospital, San Juan de Dios, to diagnose, treat, and provide post-operative care for heart patients of all ages.

Our clinical and educational focus is on Ebstein Anomaly, a rare and highly complex congenital heart defect which can be treated during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, depending on each patient’s unique anatomy and physiology. We are so excited to have Joseph Dearani, MD, preeminent Ebstein surgeon from the Mayo Clinic, leading our team of medical volunteers to perform Costa Rica’s first-ever Cone Repair procedures on children and adults who were born with this rare type of congenital heart disease.

In the coming months, we look forward to sharing more detailed updates on our program progress and introducing you to the patients operated on by our team this week.

¡Pura vida!

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09/16/2026

Today, September 16, is the International Day for Interventional Cardiology, as designated by the United Nations in 2022, to honor this dynamic, rapidly evolving field. At Heart to Heart, we are marking the occasion with Gagan Singh, MD, who directs the Structural Heart Program and Clinical Cardiovascular Research Unit at UC Davis Medical Center. Dr. Singh is a new Heart to Heart medical volunteer, recruited by our founder, Nilas Young, MD. They have known each other for years, and we are delighted that our campaign in Costa Rica will now benefit from Dr. Singh’s expertise.

Recently, we spoke with Dr. Singh about the latest innovations in treating structural heart disease via interventional cardiology, and what they mean for patients around the world. Click the link below to read our blog.

We are thankful to have Dr. Singh join our community of medical volunteers and excited to have him lead our next interventional training mission in 2027—stay tuned!

https://www.heart-2-heart.org/blog/2026/9/11/meet-dr-gagan-singh

08/19/2026

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, we honor those who make carrying out Heart to Heart’s international humanitarian mission possible:

- Medical volunteers: the surgeons, cardiologists, intensivists, nurses, and technicians who lend their time, expertise, and skills to travel across the world to save lives and train others.
- Partner site colleagues: healthcare heroes who work tirelessly each day in under-resourced hospitals while building resilient cardiac programs for a better future.
- Supporters: donors and advocates whose quiet generosity provides the financial, material, and moral support to expand access to cardiac care.

To all of you who have volunteered, supported our on-the-ground efforts, donated to our organization, or simply shared our story—thank you for making this life-saving work possible.

06/21/2026

Happy Father's Day! We love celebrating fathers around the world—heroes in the eyes of so many children suffering from heart disease.

On our training missions in Costa Rica, we are so lucky to get to know some of these incredible fathers. One of them, Alvaro, describes his daughter Lhaya as his "little angel… joyful, loving, and respectful." Heart to Heart performed open heart surgery on Lhaya with the cardiac team at Costa Rica’s National Children’s Hospital in April 2024.

Two years after her operation, we had the opportunity to catch up with Alvaro and Lhaya in person in their hometown of Playa del Coco. Lhaya is now six years old and thriving in kindergarten. Alvaro proudly told us about her artistic talents, highlighting her painting and drawing skills. During our follow-up interview, Alvaro’s love for his daughter shone brightly, and we were delighted to see them both happy and healthy.

05/12/2026

Happy International Nurses Day! Nurses offer a soothing presence and watchful eye at every patient’s bedside. Like modern-day superheroes, nurses wear all kinds of capes: they monitor health, provide respiratory support, and offer compassionate care to patients inside and outside of hospitals. Nurses hold vast medical expertise—they truly are the backbone of healthcare teams worldwide.

Thank you to all nurses for the important role you play in keeping patients safe and helping them get back home to their families!

05/10/2026

This Mother's Day, we celebrate all the extraordinary moms around the world who we have the privilege to meet. We feel their profound dedication as they advocate for their vulnerable children.

While in Costa Rica, Heart to Heart asked the mothers of our young patients one question: How would you describe your child? Their replies remind us that behind every baby born with CHD is a caring mother who loves and knows her child more than anyone else in the world.

As we celebrate the mothers in our lives this weekend, we hope this video warms your heart!

Happy Mother’s Day! ♥️

03/30/2026

Today we celebrate physicians around the world who care for patients with heart disease. Children and adults who require cardiac care are seen by a wide array of specialists, including cardiologists who monitor their disease progression, interventionalists, surgeons, and anesthesiologists who provide treatment via open heart surgery or catheter-based intervention, and intensivists who provide immediate postoperative care alongside nurses at the ICU bedside.

Without each of these specialized doctors, and the many other skilled medical professionals who support their work, millions of patients with life-threatening conditions would go undiagnosed and untreated.

Join us today to celebrate doctors around the world! And to all of our incredible medical volunteers: thank you for being a part of our life-saving work.

03/13/2026

¡Saludos desde Costa Rica! Over the last week and a half, seven Heart to Heart cardiac specialists have had boots on the ground at Costa Rica’s National Children’s Hospital (HNN) in Costa Rica.

Multiple advanced educational and clinical skills training projects are now underway—and moving forward beautifully! In the pediatric intensive care unit, our joint team of intensivists, nurses, respiratory therapists, and infection prevention colleagues have been working together to implement best practices and improve patient safety. Together, they are making meaningful progress in Costa Rica’s only pediatric ICU. Likewise, Heart to Heart and local cardiologists have been diagnosing patients and lending support in the operating room by performing intraoperative echocardiogram studies. This week, our joint team has performed life-saving open heart surgeries on five children.

Thank you for helping us expand access to life-saving cardiac treatment for patients of all ages in Costa Rica. Stay tuned for more updates soon! 💟

03/08/2026

Today, on International Women’s Day, we would like to highlight all of the kind, intelligent, and hardworking women who make our life-saving work possible.

The photographs above show just a few of our fabulous volunteers on Heart to Heart missions: they are pediatric cardiologists, anesthesiologists, surgical technicians, nurses, intensivists, and more!

Join us in celebrating them in the comments ❤ 👩‍⚕️

❤️

02/22/2026

Today we are taking a moment to recognize Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day.

Did you know that some people with heart valve disease can be completely asymptomatic, making it a common "hidden" condition? There are many types of life-threatening heart disease that affect valves, and any of the heart’s four valves—the mitral, aortic, tricuspid, or pulmonary—can be afflicted. Among adults, the common types of heart valve disease are tricuspid regurgitation, aortic stenosis, and mitral regurgitation.

Today and everyday, let’s do our part to spread awareness about cardiovascular disease and treatment. Join Heart to Heart as we continue to expand access to life-saving heart care for patients of all ages.

❤️

Address

655 13th Street, Ste 200
Oakland, CA
94612

Telephone

+15108394280

Website

http://www.heart-2-heart.org/

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