Heineman Medical Research Foundation is actively engaged in the fight against heart disease not only locally but also in countries around the world. Our physicians have traveled extensively to provide healthcare solutions, teach and to learn the cultural, political and medical environment of our international partners.

In 2006, the Heineman Foundation received a request from the Nicaraguan government for assistance because it lacked sophisticated cardiac-diagnostic facilities for children. In the entire country of Nicaragua, there was only one functioning heart-catheterization laboratory. We were able to obtain a 2-year-old, fully functioning, cardiac-diagnostic laboratory, refurbish it with the help of the Heineman Delaware Foundation of New York, and provide the Nicaraguan children with this much needed facility. We intend to continue our pediatric, cardiac-surgical assistance program to Nicaragua, as well as to Costa Rica and Romania.

We have donated heart-lung and echo machines, surgical and diagnostic equipment, and provided training to institutions in Russia, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. We sent our medical teams to assist them, and more importantly, we have received their health providers and researchers for prolonged periods of training.

We have facilitated formal and informal exchanges with medical experts from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Israel, Italy, Hungary, England, China and France.

We have transferred not only clinical and research information but also know-how in computer science and statistical analysis for cardiovascular patients. We have provided architectural assistance in the expansion of medical facilities. We are currently providing extensive training and equipment to R.A. Calderon Guardia Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica as it establishes a cardiac surgery and heart transplantation unit.

We continue to send medical teams to travel to Iasi, Romania to operate on children needing cardiac surgery for complex heart defects.