San Jose, Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a Central American nation home to approximately five million people. Known for its laid back culture and welcoming people, Costa Rica is considered an international tourist destination, where visitors can hike up volcanoes, taste exotic fruits, and see rare animals creep, crawl, and fly. 

Costa Ricans, affectionately known as ticos, are known for their commonly used catchphrase, “pura vida,” meaning “pure life.” Taken from a 1950s Mexican film, this phrase came to life in Costa Rica, where it can be used to mean any number of things in diverse situations.

In Costa Rica, there are four major public hospitals that provide cardiac care to the entire population – in addition to visitors from abroad and migrants from neighboring countries. More than 500 babies are born with congenital heart disease (CHD) in Costa Rica every year. But unfortunately, hundreds of them still lack access to the cardiac care they desperately need.

Heart to Heart first launched our work in Costa Rica In November 2021, when a team of medical volunteers and staff traveled to San Jose to conduct our first cardiac training mission. This marked the beginning of our collaboration with the National Children’s Hospital, Hospital Nacional de Niños (HNN). Our volunteer teams have since returned to HNN five times, most recently in July (and previously: March 2022, October 2022, March 2023, and April 2024). We are currently working with HNN leaders to determine the next steps in our collaboration with the shared goal of expanding access to cardiac care for all children in the country.

Additionally, in September 2023, Heart to Heart conducted our first cardiac training mission to Hospital San Juan de Dios (HSJD), one of three public adult cardiac programs in Costa Rica. During this mission, Heart to Heart volunteers provided teaching and training to local specialists with a focus on performing minimally invasive surgical valve repairs.

We look forward to continuing to work with the talented cardiac specialists at HNN and HSJD in the years to come.