Touching lives. Saving lives.

 

Our Mission
The International Medical Outreach (IMO) program, a collaborative partnership between Heineman-Robicsek Foundation, Inc., and Atrium Health (formerly Carolinas HealthCare System), provides medical and educational assistance globally to promote sustainable healthcare and enhanced living standards in underserved communities.

Our History
With World War II over, confidence levels soared, and a new era in American industrialism began. It was during this time that two friends established the beginnings of a medical research facility in an abandoned polio barrack in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Heineman-Robicsek has grown a lot since our humble beginnings, but one thing has always stayed constant: our uncompromised desire to serve and help others.

 

  • All
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
  • 1970s
  • 2000s
  • 2010s
  • 2020s
  • Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, volunteers and partners, we’re able to continue transforming lives and uplifting communities by teaching, healing and inspiring sustainable healthcare solutions around the world.

  • IMO donates a complete cardiac catheterization laboratory in a static room at Hospital Pro-Familia in San Salvador, El Salvador.

  • The IMO team travels to Totonicapán to fully furnish the new Adult Intensive Care Unit with 8 new beds at the Hospital Departamental de Totonicapán.

  • IMO opens an echocardiography station in El Progreso and trains their staff on how to perform echo scans with the new equipment. The new station will serve 400,000 residents!  

  • IMO fully furnishes New Hope Hospital in Plain-du-Nord, Haiti with hospital equipment.

  • IMO performs the first free public cardiac education and screening in Guatemala

  • IMO works with Levine Children’s Hospital to open a 36-bed neonatal and pediatric intensive care in Escuintla, Guatemala; the largest of its kind in Central America.

  • IMO works with Levine Children’s Hospital to open a brand new Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Escuintla, Guatemala; the largest of its kind in Central America.

  • To better represent the mission, Heineman Medical Research, Inc. is renamed Heineman Medical Outreach, Inc.

  • IMO donates a 40-foot mobile clinic which serves the rural villages near the town of Chinandega, Nicaragua and encounters over 500 patients each month.

  • IMO performs the first public cardiac education and screening in Belize.

  • IMO establishes first peripheral vascular ultrasound laboratory in Antigua, West Indies.

  • IMO donates a complete cardiac catheterization laboratory to La Lima Medical Center in Honduras.

  • IMO collaborates with Chiquita Brands International to promote sustainable, quality healthcare and education around the world.

  • IMO assists with first open heart surgery in Belize.

  • Shortly after, the IMO establishes The Computer Project with FUNSEPA in an initiative to modernize Guatemala’s public school system.

  • IMO performs the first cardiac catheterization in Belize.

  • The IMO team establishes the first public cardiac catheterization laboratory in Belize

  • IMO fully furnishes, Hospital Fundación Ruth Paz, a children’s hospital, in San Pedro Sula Honduras.

  • In Guatemala, the IMO establishes the First Echocardiographic Network, bringing echo labs to rural hospitals that have provided 14,000+ echocardiograms since.

  • IMO achieves an astonishing milestone and assists with first heart transplant in Costa Rica.

  • The IMO team donates a fully equipped cardiac catheterization laboratory to the Social Security Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

  • IMO installs a fully equipped 12-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Hospital La Mascota in Managua, Nicaragua.

  • The IMO team supplies the Social Security Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with a 14-bed pediatric intensive care unit.

  • Heineman Medical Research, Inc. shifts gears to focus solely on medical outreach, the heart of its mission. They team up with Atrium Health to establish the International Medical Outreach (IMO) program.

  • The Heineman team continues to dedicate their work to conducting cutting edge cardiac research at the only cardiac research facility in western North Carolina. This research would yield numerous discoveries.

  • Heineman Medical Research, Inc. develops the self-sustainable cardiac program at La Unidad de Cirugia Cardiovascular de Guatemala (UNICAR).

  • History is made in the capitol city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where The Sanger Clinic team performs the first open-heart surgery – ever – in Honduras.

  • After the passing of Heineman and Sanger, Robicsek continues to carry the tradition of advancing science and medicine, making Heineman Medical Research, Inc. a driving force in improving healthcare locally and for the underserved countries who need it most.

  • Sanger recruits Francis Robicsek, the former Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Budapest, Hungary, and together, they continue to define the cutting edge of cardiovascular medicine and research in the Carolinas and form The Sanger Clinic.

  • Two friends, Dannie K. Heineman, a Charlotte-born industrialist, and Paul W. Sanger, a young surgeon, establish a modest medical facility to conduct basic thoracic and vascular research, establishing Heineman Medical Research, Inc.