Together, we are building heart-safe communities
Every minute counts when someone suffers a cardiac arrest, yet survival rates across Northwest Europe still vary widely. This is often due to slow response times, limited AED access, and fragmented emergency systems.
Heartsafe 2.0 brings together an international consortium to change this. Building on the earlier Heartsafe NWE project and the proven Dutch approach, we strengthen community first responder networks in Ireland, Belgium and Germany. By combining trained volunteers, better AED coverage, digital innovation and structured support after resuscitation, we aim to create faster, more coordinated and more resilient emergency response systems that improve survival rates.
Together, we are building heart-safe communities.
As part of our work to improve survival rates from Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests (OHCA), we are gathering opinions and feedback on support and aftercare for Community First Responders in Ireland. The survey is open to the public and takes less than 15 minutes to complete.
Would you like to do CPR training and make a difference? Add your details via the Heartsafe Ireland portal and we will get in touch with you.
Register your AED. If you own or manage an AED, register it with the HSE National Ambulance Service.
By supporting this pilot project, you are helping create heart-safe communities in Ireland. Your participation will be crucial in evaluating and scaling up the initiative. Together, we can make communities heart-safe.
Heartsafe 2.0 is an EU Interreg Northwest Europe (NWE) funded project with the specific objective of ensuring equal access to health care and fostering resilience of health systems, including primary care, and promoting the transition from institutional to family and community-based care.
Building on the earlier Heartsafe NWE project and the proven Dutch approach, Heartsafe 2.0 aims to strengthen community first responder networks in Ireland, Belgium and Germany. By combining trained volunteers, better AED coverage, digital innovation, and structured post-resuscitation support, we aim to create faster, more coordinated, and more resilient emergency response systems that improve survival rates.
Together, we are building heart-safe communities.
Vision - Cross Border Collaboration in Cardiac Arrest Response
Shared standards, joint testing and continuous knowledge exchange between our consortium partners ensure that solutions are effective locally and scalable across Europe.
Mission - A Scalable Model for Cardiac Arrest Response in Europe
Heartsafe 2.0 creates a practical and scalable model for community-driven emergency response systems; helping save more lives across Northwest Europe and beyond.
The objective of the Heartsafe 2.0 project is to increase out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival rates in participating NWE regions with low outcomes (in Ireland, Belgium and Germany) by scaling Community First Responder (CFR) networks.
To achieve this, Heartsafe 2.0 will strengthen local regions and organisations that run CFR programmes, establish a Heartsafe Quality Programme, and implement a regional data analytics platform and post-resuscitation support, ultimately improving survival chances for people in these communities.
Increase Awareness and Training: Promote awareness of SCA and CPR training initiatives among the general public, healthcare professionals, and emergency response organizations to empower individuals to respond effectively in emergency situations.
Croí Heart and Stroke Charity is the lead Irish partner for Heartsafe 2.0, drawing on its extensive experience in community health, cardiovascular disease prevention and public engagement.
Building on its role in the Heartsafe NWE project, Croí will coordinate all Irish pilot activities in Heartsafe 2.0, with a particular focus on expanding AED coverage, first responder training and community mobilisation in both urban and rural settings.
Croí will bring its experience across 40 years of activity in heart disease and stroke to this project. Croí will lead the expanded regional development in Ireland and, in doing so, will optimise its wider network and relationships with the Local Authorities, Northwest Regional Assembly, the regional public health authority, emergency services, universities, existing first responder groups and its broader network of volunteers, and organisations across all sectors.
The Heartsafe 2.0 Interreg North West Europe (NWE) project is a collaborative initiative led by a consortium of partners dedicated to improving emergency response capabilities and community safety across European regions.
Our consortium comprises organisations with expertise in healthcare, emergency response, technology, and community engagement.
Together with a broad variety of partners, DHF worked on a nationally integrated Community First Responder (CFR) system – including the nationwide AED network and the citizen alert system – and has played a key role in achieving one of the highest OHCA survival rates in Europe, from 23% in 2016 to ~45% today. DHF expertise spans stakeholder engagement, public mobilisation and large-scale communication campaigns, nationally recognised with a Gold Effie Award.
Their mission is centred around empowering people in local communities to save lives. At present, they successfully manage a network of over 290,000 volunteers and 29,000 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the Netherlands. This enables them to respond to more than 11,000 alerts annually. They take immense pride in the positive impact they have on society by significantly increasing OHCA survival rates. As such, they aspire to share their best practices as well as their proven high-quality standard applications and supporting tools with other regions within the European Union.
The Heartsafe NWE project encompasses a diverse range of regions within North-West Europe, including urban, suburban, and rural areas. Our project focuses on three pilot regions: Galway (Ireland), Leuven (Belgium), and Health Region Cologne-Bonn / Neuwied (Germany). These pilot sites have been selected based on their population density, geographic diversity, and existing infrastructure to maximize the impact of the project.
Through targeted interventions and collaborative efforts, the Heartsafe NWE project aims to improve emergency response capabilities and save lives across the North-West Europe region.
The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is the principal statutory partner responsible for emergency medical response and the coordination of the national Community First Responder programme.
The NAS is delighted to be involved in the Heartsafe Project to achieve the common goal of improving survivability from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Our involvement will allow us to collaborate with and learn how other regions within Europe utilise emergency response systems to alert volunteers of an out of hospital cardiac arrest. This project also allows the NAS to share its own experience with other European regions on how our national network of CFRs are alerted and dispatched to life-threatening emergencies here in Ireland. Through this collective sharing of knowledge, all partners and associate partners will be able to build upon and establish new systems and supports to address out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
Galway City Council is a Heartsafe Irish Associate Partner and an important implementation partner for community engagement, identification of strategic AED locations and connection with local organisations and public infrastructure. Galway City is the location for the initial Heartsafe 2.0 pilot region.
Galway City Council’s participation in the Heartsafe project aligns closely with Galway City’s membership in the World Health Organisation’s European Healthy Cities network, alongside the work of the Healthy Ireland Committee and teams in the council.
Sligo County Council is a Heartsafe Irish Associate Partner and an important implementation partner for community engagement, identification of strategic AED locations and connection with local organisations and public infrastructure. Sligo is a location for the Heartsafe 2.0 pilot region.
