Overview
- New Hartstichting research identifies fear of making a fatal mistake as the main barrier, with 62% believing a responder error could cost a life and only about 5% of certified people registering.
- Roughly one in four people in the Netherlands holds a valid CPR certificate, yet sign-ups as burgerhulpverleners remain far below what charities say is needed for reliable coverage.
- HartslagNu automatically notifies multiple nearby volunteers after a 112 cardiac-arrest call, participation is optional per alert, and certain cases do not generate alerts for citizen responders.
- Shortages are quantified locally: Flevoland needs 654 more volunteers in addition to roughly 6,300 registered, and Gelderland requires about 2,720 more on top of 39,650 already enlisted, with a responder active in 93% of alerts.
- Citizen responders typically arrive around 2.5 minutes before ambulances and start about eight in ten out-of-hospital resuscitations, a difference reflected in survivor and volunteer testimonies.