Rostov Regional Cardiac Center, Southern Federal District

Rostov-on-Don is located in the Southwest of the country, connecting Russia to Central Asian and Eastern European nations. Originally settled in the 14th century along the Don River, the region was home to the famed Cossacks. Nearly completely destroyed during World War II, this historically-significant and vibrant port city has since been rebuilt.

Self-sustaining pediatric site: our fourth
Area served: 172,900 square miles
Population served: 16 million 
Beginning of collaboration: 2009
Self-sustainability reached: 2016
Size of first team trained: 35 
Children saved to date: 2,300+

Each year, in Rostov-on-Don and its suburbs, about 350 babies are born with life-threatening heart defects. In 2008, when Heart to Heart first visited the Rostov-on-Don Regional Cardiac Center, local cardiac specialists desperately wanted to provide open heart surgery for children in their region and beyond. The Center had been treating adult patients for 30 years, but routinely had to turn away the children brought to the Center by anguished parents.

In 2012, we experienced a milestone – the first Heart to Heart surgical-educational team led by a Russian colleague, Dr. Krivoshchekov from Tomsk. The mission was a turning point for the Rostov-on-Don program: over the next four years leading up to the center reaching self-sustainability, hundreds of children were saved by the Rostov pediatric cardiac team.

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