Atrium Health, Heineman-Robicseck Foundation Expand Care Through International Outreach Program

New outreach logistics center doubles outreach footprint for Central America

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 15, 2026 — Atrium Health and the Heineman Robicsek Foundation (HRF) celebrated a major milestone with the expansion and inauguration of HRF’s Outreach Logistics Center, significantly increasing the foundation’s capacity to support global humanitarian efforts.

“I’m incredibly proud of this program and the meaningful impact it continues to have in Central America,” said Dr. Eric Skipper, cardiothoracic surgeon at Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute and HRF chair. “The work our teams have done has helped expand access to care, strengthen partnerships and improve outcomes for patients and families who need it most.”

Previously operating from a leased 10,000-square-foot warehouse, HRF expanded into a 22,000-square-foot facility following a generous donation from the Bissell family, which also included $1 million to renovate and upgrade the space.

For years, the Bissell family has stood alongside HRF to help bring hope, healing, and health to thousands in need in Central America. Their support has included the donation of four cardiac catheterization labs across four countries, a mobile medical clinic and other medical supplies.

The first lady of the Republic of Guatemala, Lucrecia Eugenia Peinado Villanueva, traveled to Charlotte to attend the inauguration, where she delivered remarks highlighting the meaningful impact of the International Medical Outreach (IMO) program. She spoke to the program’s role in improving access to lifesaving care for communities in Guatemala and emphasized the importance of continued international collaboration to advance global health.

“We are deeply grateful for this partnership and for the many lives that have been saved,” said Lucrecia Eugenia Peinado Villanueva, the First Lady of Guatemala. “We are proud to have this program and the meaningful impact it continues to make.”

The International Medical Outreach Program is a longstanding collaboration between Atrium Health and the Heineman Robicsek Foundation dedicated to advancing healthcare access in communities around the world. For 65 years, HRF has led impactful research and humanitarian initiatives, beginning with pioneering cardiovascular surgery research in the early 1960s and evolving into international medical outreach by the 1970s, with an early focus on Central America. In 2010, outreach became the foundation’s primary mission. Through IMO, Atrium Health donates medical equipment and supplies that HRF refurbishes and deploys to developing countries — primarily in Central America — along with medical education, provider training, public health screenings and in-country clinical support.

IMO’s impact spans decades and regions, including launching the first invasive cardiology and heart surgery programs in three Central American countries; co-founding Guatemala’s first heart institute, UNICAR; fully equipping the first children’s hospital in Honduras; establishing vascular surgery in Antigua, West Indies; and delivering intensive care units, operating rooms, heart catheterization laboratories, outpatient clinics, and mobile medical units across those countries.

About Atrium Health

Atrium Health is advancing clinical care and research across the communities it serves by redefining care for all. The care network is anchored by Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, an academic medical center in Charlotte that includes Levine Children’s Hospital, Levine Cancer Institute and Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, along with 11 hospitals, more than 900 care locations and over 1,400 physicians serving communities across the greater Charlotte region. It is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States. Advocate Health is a preeminent academic health system at the forefront of clinical excellence, innovation and research, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as its academic core. Nationally recognized for expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, Advocate Health is also a pioneer in the delivery of virtual health care. It’s accelerating discovery by making research participation part of the standard-of-care through its one-of-a-kind National Center for Clinical . Advocate Health has one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs, with an experiential learning focus and specialized residencies to help protect the long-term sustainability of rural health care in America. Each campus of the school of medicine has an affiliated life-sciences focused innovation district: The Pearl, in Charlotte, and Innovation Quarter, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. With more than 165,000 teammates serving patients at 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations across eight states, Advocate Health reinvests over $6 billion each year to improve community health, making it one of the nation’s largest providers of community benefit.

About Advocate Health

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States. A preeminent academic health system at the forefront of clinical excellence, innovation and research, it delivers care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois; Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin and Michigan, and Wake Forest University School of Medicine is its academic core. Nationally recognized for expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, Advocate Health is also a pioneer in the delivery of virtual health care. It is accelerating discovery by making research participation part of the standard-of-care through its one-of-a-kind National Center for Clinical Trials, plus two affiliated life-sciences-focused innovation districts and one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs. With more than 165,000 teammates serving patients at 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations across eight states, Advocate Health reinvests over $6 billion each year to improve community health, making it one of the nation’s largest providers of community benefit.