While traveling in Honduras in 1981, Dr. Mayer Heiman, a N.O. physician, was moved with compassion by what he saw. Children were suffering due to the lack of quality medical care, medical supplies and equipment. Dr. Heiman began treating those children he could and soon recognized the immense, desperate need for medical services in this country.

Dr. Heiman returned to the States and solicited the support and commitment of a few of his colleagues. They began traveling to Honduras and donating their services to improve the quality of care for the children. A number of the more seriously ill children were brought to the U.S. for additional treatment and surgery. As a result, the International Hospital for Children was created. This hospital without walls reaches out to children regardless of race, creed, religion, or ethnic background. IHC has brought over 500 children to the U.S. for care that was not available to them in their homeland.

IIHC has extended its initial focus on Honduras to include countries such as: Belize, Cambodia, Cuba, Columbia, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Ghana, Haiti, India, Kosovo, Mexico, Nicaragua, Namibia, Panama, Peru, Russia, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam.

Unforeseeable disasters such as Hurricane Mitch, in 1997, left many children without homes, families, and basic medical care. The IHC, with the support of the New Orleans community, shipped over 1.8 million pounds of supplies and donations to hurricaine victims of Honduras, Nicaragua,and El Salvador.