Save a Child’s Heart Marks 30 Years of Lifesaving Cardiac Care for 9,000 Children

The Talmud teaches that whoever saves a single life is as one who saved an entire world. By that measure, Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) can be credited with saving some 9,000 worlds.

SACH stands as Israel’s foremost practitioner of medical diplomacy.

Founded in 1995 by the late Dr. Ami Cohen and headquartered at the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital within the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, the organization provides free cardiac surgery for children with heart ailments regardless of religion, ethnicity, or nationality. This includes children from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel, as well as youngsters from nations considered hostile to Israel. To date, more than 9,000 children from over 75 countries have been brought to Israel for treatment, each accompanied by a family member or nurse from their home country.

In addition, medical personnel from developing countries are brought to Israel to train in all aspects of cardiac surgery, so children with heart conditions can be treated closer to home. SACH teams frequently travel abroad to evaluate children with congenital and rheumatic heart disease, and often perform urgent surgeries when a child’s condition requires immediate treatment.

SACH volunteers and supporters met last Friday with President Isaac Herzog at his official residence to celebrate the 30th anniversary of SACH’s founding.

Along with the above were medical personnel, ambassadors, and diplomats from several African countries whose children have been brought to Israel for surgery, representatives of African hospitals whose pediatric cardiology teams were trained in Israel, representatives of international foundations that help fund SACH, and mothers whose children recently underwent successful surgeries and will soon be returning home.

‘We Are Celebrating 30 Years of Saving Worlds’

SACH Executive Director Simon Fisher described the children who have come under SACH care over the years as “living miracles,” adding, “We are celebrating 30 years of saving worlds.”

Fisher emphasized that SACH has grown from a small group of dedicated professionals into a global operation.

Explaining this, Fisher said, “A child in need is part of our collective responsibility.”

Herzog, who has long been familiar with SACH’s work, said the organization deserves a Nobel Peace Prize and pledged to do everything he could to bring that about.

He declared that he was honored to host a milestone anniversary of “a remarkable Israeli humanitarian organization of which we are very proud.”

Herzog characterized SACH’s achievements as “the triumph of human kindness, connecting a wide heart of human effort.”

But it is more than simply healing a diseased heart, he pointed out. “From Iraq to the Palestinian Authority, all have been welcomed with wide open arms—simply because they are children in need.”

Herzog saw the effects of this a year ago during a state visit to Zambia, when he met adults who, as children, had been healed in Israel and were leading fruitful and meaningful lives.

“Few things leave me prouder to be Israeli,” he said.

“This is the essence of doing good in the world. This is something the international community should bear in mind when they accuse us of something else.”

In closing, Herzog implied that SACH received its inspiration from the Biblical Noah—“one man who braved the current and ultimately saved the world.”

SACH co-chair Robert Baruch noted that over the years, SACH has given thousands of children a second chance at life and has not been deterred by the child’s place of birth. Children come to Israel as the hope of families who cannot find treatment at home, he said. “It’s a reminder of what can happen when people decide to act. The impact of SACH is far greater than its size.”

Mega philanthropist Sylvan Adams, who together with a group of other philanthropic families living in Israel established the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital within the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, shared some of his own SACH experiences.

The first time he visited, more than a decade ago, he was on a tour, and SACH staff asked whether he would like to spend a few minutes watching open-heart surgery. He agreed and was so fascinated by what he saw that he sat for hours and instantly became a donor. The children’s hospital that bears his name came into being because there was no children’s hospital in Holon before then. Since its inception, he has visited many times.

On that first occasion, he saw the surgeon being assisted by a doctor from Tanzania. What amazed him was that the two were conversing in Hebrew.

One per cent of all children are born with heart defects

Adams was shocked to learn that one per cent of all children are born with heart defects, which makes SACH’s work all the more vital.

During his visits, he has witnessed children from Gaza arriving with their parents and sometimes accompanied by their physicians. They were always treated with dignity—even after October 7, he said.

In relation to the attitude toward Gazan children being treated in the same friendly manner as children from anywhere else, Adams is certain that there are people in Gaza who do not bear hostility toward Israel.

Along the entrance to the main building in the presidential compound, there were tall round tables bearing enlarged photographs of children who came with hope and left healed. Alongside each photograph was a round vase filled with white tulips. When the petals of a tulip first open, they form the shape of a heart. The message, though subtle, was clear.

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