Heartsafe NWE

Heartsafe NWE is a pioneering project aimed at addressing the pressing issue of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) across North-West Europe. 

SCA is the 3rd leading cause of death in Europe, with survival rates for Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) varying significantly across regions. While the Netherlands boasts a 45% survival rate, other countries like Germany, Belgium, and Ireland lag behind, respectively with a survival rate of 31%, 26% and 25%. To bridge this gap, Heartsafe NWE is on a mission to ensure equal survival chances for all by implementing community-based first responder networks. 

Our approach is threefold, consisting of: strategically placing 24/7 available Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), training local citizens in CPR, and employing a cloud-based alerting system to dispatch citizen responders swiftly, eventually creating a Heartsafe ecosystem. We will do so by building and piloting a community-based OHCA first responder system in Galway, Leuven, and the Health Region Cologne-Bonn, and by delivering three tailor-made results-based scale-up strategies to make the local solutions sustainable. By adopting the proven Dutch best practice, we aim to increase OHCA survival rates by 10% in our pilot regions. 

Heartsafe NWE is grounded in local community engagement. By empowering local authorities with the tools and knowledge to operate life-saving infrastructure, we aim to ensure that all local citizens have timely access to emergency assistance. 

Follow us on our mission to save lives and create a safer, more resilient NWE region.