Rachaya Heart

“We treat everybody as if they have no politics, no religion, no color, no nationality. We don’t care. Everybody deserves to have their heart fixed, their diseases cured—period.” — Dr. Marcelo Cardarelli MD, MPH & Co-founder, Novick Cardiac Alliance (NCA)

RACHAYA HEART (2021), a new short film from the Novick Cardiac Alliance, follows the life-affirming work of Dr. Marcelo Cardarelli, NCA international teams and local healthcare professionals, as they provide high-stakes cardiac surgery on Syrian refugee children at Al Rachaya Governmental Hospital in Southern Lebanon. Driven from their homeland by ongoing war and strife, these children and their parents live as stateless people in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, where cardiac care is limited or non-existent. The film chronicles NCA’s mission to deliver urgent cardiac care and these Syrian families, spotlighting kindness and humanity at the nexus of universal need and global goodwill.

RACHAYA HEART (2021) | Featuring DR. MARCELO CARDARELLI and DR. WALID SERHAN with DR. IGOR POLIVENOK and MR. NIDAL ALI | Directed by JORDAN CAMPBELL | Edited by JUSTIN SIMPKINS | Executive Producer DR. WILLIAM NOVICK | Director of Photography JORDAN CAMPBELL | A RAMRO GLOBAL® Production