When someone suffers an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, every second counts. Immediate help from citizen responders and quick access to an AED can mean the difference between life and death. Within the Heartsafe NWE project, we are working to strengthen those crucial first minutes – and it is precisely the international cooperation that makes this project so impactful.
Why transnationality matters
Cardiac arrest knows no borders. Yet, systems, legal frameworks, and traditions of citizen response vary widely across countries. By joining forces in Ireland (Galway), Belgium (Leuven), and Germany (Neuwied), together with the Dutch best practice, we learn from each other’s approaches and accelerate innovations that would be far more difficult to achieve in isolation.
Cross-border cooperation brings three main benefits:
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Learning from best practices – Each country has unique strengths: the Netherlands has built Europe’s largest citizen responder network, Belgium shows strong civic engagement and academic expertise, and Ireland has deep links with volunteer organizations.
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Avoiding duplication – By sharing experiences and developing a joint technological backbone, partners save time and resources, ensuring smarter, faster progress.
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Adaptable solutions – Collective knowledge allows the system to be tailored to different cultural, legal, and organizational contexts across Europe.
Concrete results of cooperation
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Shared platform: With support from the Dutch Heart Foundation and Stan B.V., the same citizen responder platform has been successfully deployed in all three pilot regions. This strengthens scalability and ensures a robust technological foundation.
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Knowledge exchange: Local learning events – from a mass resuscitation demonstration at Rock Werchter (BE) to the first rollout of such a system in Ireland – not only engaged communities but also fostered valuable international exchange.
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Sustainability: By comparing governance and legal frameworks across countries, partners are building models for long-term embedding of citizen responder systems into national healthcare infrastructures.
European added value
The added value of this international partnership lies not only in technical deployment but also in the collective impact:
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more trained citizen responders,
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greater AED coverage,
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stronger engagement from municipalities, citizens, and organizations,
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and above all: better survival chances after cardiac arrest.
Heartsafe NWE demonstrates that what starts locally can have European significance. By working together across borders, we are building a future where every citizen in North-West Europe can receive faster, better help in case of cardiac arrest.