Overview
- More than 2,000 people have registered as citizen rescuers since Tuesday, far above the usual pace of about 100 per day, according to the Hartstichting.
- Only 5% of Dutch residents with a valid CPR certificate enroll to respond, despite roughly a quarter of the population holding such certification.
- Citizen responders start about eight in ten resuscitations in roughly 12,000 annual alerts and typically arrive around 2.5 minutes before ambulances.
- After a 112 cardiac-arrest call, the Hartslagnu network alerts nearby volunteers through its app, and dispatchers commonly coach steps in real time.
- Regional coverage remains uneven, spurring targeted recruitment and more realistic training to build confidence, with local calls to sign up such as in Lelystad.