A third of civilian first responders are no longer alerted for resuscitation

Most of the 270,000 civilian first responders are no longer called upon to resuscitate anyone. 30 percent of this group hasn’t taken a refresher course or resuscitated someone recently, so they don’t meet the requirements of a civilian operator. This can be seen from the data of HartslagNu, the resuscitation call system, required by the NOS.

The number of civilian aid workers has increased considerably in recent years. That’s how of the last year It is possible that anywhere in the Netherlands someone could be revived within 6 minutes.

The loss of some 80,000 civilian aid workers since the start of the new year changes that.

A civilian rescuer is trained to be able to resuscitate a person. If the criteria are met, a civilian responder can sign up for HartslagNu’s call system.

In the event of cardiac arrest, an average of eighty civilian rescuers are called in the area. They can revive the patient before an ambulance arrives, which increases the chances of survival. On average, nearly 3,000 civilian first responders are called in the Netherlands every day.

To be a civil operator it is necessary to attend an annual refresher course. Resuscitation knowledge and skills are refreshed during this course. Due to the restrictions of the corona pandemic, this was not possible for two years, so the refresher course requirement was abandoned.

Now you can take CPR classes for another year. Yet many civilian first responders didn’t, so they are no longer called upon for CPR.

“The corona pandemic plays a big role,” says Aart Bosmans, director of the HartslagNu call system. “Before the pandemic, people had to take a refresher course. That habit has now disappeared. We have sent reminders to people several times, but unfortunately it has not had the desired effect.”

The extent to which the number of civilian aid workers is declining varies by province. For example, the decline is greatest in the province of South Holland: 34%. The province of Limburg loses the fewest civilian aid workers in percentage terms. There is a 26% drop.

“You can see that people in rural areas find it more important to remain a civilian aid worker,” Bosmans says. “People in those areas know each other better and are more involved with each other. Also, the ambulance arrival time is longer in sparsely populated areas. The need for civilian aid workers is greater then.”

In the event of cardiac arrest, the 100 civilian rescuers closest to the emergency are called. A 30 percent decrease in the number of civilian aid workers means that the average distance to a patient increases. As a result, resuscitation of a person suffering from cardiac arrest may take longer.

“For every minute a patient has to wait longer, the chances of survival decrease by 10 percent. Valuable time is already lost reporting cardiac arrest and alerting civilian emergency services. It is therefore crucial that someone responds within minutes nearby that can resurrect”.

“The impact of the loss of 30 per cent of civilian aid workers could not be too severe,” continues Bosmans. “The thing is, we no longer call inactive civilian aid workers. They haven’t undergone refresher training or been to resuscitation recently. That doesn’t mean 30 percent fewer civilian aid workers will get a report.”

HartslagNu will investigate how people are persuaded to take a refresher course. Former civilian first responders who still take a CPR course, and enter it into the call system, are called again if necessary in the event of cardiac arrest.