2025 UHF Gala Journal - Flipbook - Page 12
Distinguished Community Service Award
Michelle Javian and Yuki Kotani
For founding Harboring Hearts to provide
emergency housing, transportation, food,
and emotional support to adult and pediatric
cardiac and transplant patients and their
families in critical need
Michelle Javian and Yuki Kotani know first-hand the toll a major cardiac surgery can take
on a patient and their family. Though strangers at the time, the two spent much of their
first years out of college in the same unit at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, caring for
their respective fathers during heart disease treatment and eventual heart transplants
just a few months apart.
Albeit struggling with their own physical and emotional exhaustion, Michelle and Yuki took
notice of families who weren’t as fortunate as them to have homes near the hospital.
“We met so many families that traveled from all over the world and didn’t have a place to
stay—they were literally sleeping in the hospital waiting rooms, day in and day out, taking
showers at other people’s apartments nearby, eating unhealthy food,” said Michelle,
noting her mother started bringing breakfast to the hospital once a week to offer to fellow
caregivers. “I thought: ‘There has to be something we can do to help these families.’”
Soon, when Michelle and Yuki “serendipitously” met through mutual friends, that thought
turned into action. The two women teamed up to found Harboring Hearts, a nonprofit
dedicated to providing emergency housing, transportation, food, and emotional support
to cardiac surgery and transplant patients and their families.
Founded with Michelle as founder and Yuki as co-founder in 2009, the organization
has grown to be a reliable resource for thousands of families over the past 16 years.
Its largest program—an emergency fund offering patients and caregivers financial
support—has directly benefitted more than 3,000 patients. Originally conceived for
housing help, the fund’s services have grown through partnerships with 200 physicians
and social workers across nine New York hospitals. Each family is referred to the
organization by hospital staff and evaluated on a case-by-case basis for the support
they need.
“It became apparent to us that basic expenses like housing, food, transportation were
really difficult and sometimes impeded people from receiving the surgery that they
needed,” Yuki said. “If you’re debating between a medication and your family’s groceries
for a week, let us take care of the grocery bills so you can focus on the medication.”
