How do you become a community first responder?
Community first responders save the lives of people who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest. By joining this project you can:
- Ask questions about CPR
- Find out who answers the emergency number 112
- Participate in CPR training
- Find AED defibrillators in your neighborhood
- Be part of a pilot project with community first responders
If you want to participate, you can register here.
What can you do when you witness cardiac arrest?
Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a major public health problem and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In Europe, approximately 350,000 people are affected by OHCA each year, with survival rates ranging from 5% to 25%.
What do we want to achieve with this project?
An alternative chain of survival was presented in a publication by Deakin and colleagues. This showed that of all OHCA patients for whom someone called 911, only 48% were resuscitated before the ambulance arrived and only 12% were treated with an AED. This highlights the importance of volunteer rescuers.
Community first responders, first link in the survival chain
The latest ERC Guidelines 2021 emphasize the critical importance of the interactions between the Emergency Center 112 center, the community first responders providing high-quality CPR, and the timely use of a publicly accessible defibrillator or Public Access Defibrillator (PAD). The "bystander" is the first link in the chain of survival as a witness to a collapse or accident.
How did this project come about?
In 2025, KU Leuven will celebrate its 600th anniversary. In that context, the university organized a competition for a Citizen Science project in 2023, in which it aims to actively involve citizens in scientific research over a three-year period. The Citizen Science approach is used as a method to create awareness, enthusiasm and trust for research in society and to increase the social impact of science. The selected project will generate knowledge and data that can only be obtained in close collaboration with society.
Video Our researchers, along with many citizens, set a good example during HARTstad Leuven and demonstrated how to initiate CPR before emergency services arrive.
KU Leuven Stories
From bystander to hero
The best outcome in cardiac arrest, is often achieved when a bystander can perform CPR. Help from citizens is crucial because every minute counts.
9 minutes | 22 January 2025
Community first responders is a collaboration between KU Leuven, UZ Leuven en Interreg Europe.
