ONE APP, ONE COMMUNITY, ONE MISSION:
SAVING LIVES
CITIZEN RESPONDERS
A community of volunteers who choose to be part of the answer when someone goes into cardiac arrest. They can be alerted at any moment through the Staying Alive app, unless they have marked themselves unavailable.
AED MAPPING
A free mobile app that lets you join the citizen responder community and, once you are registered, alerts you when a cardiac arrest happens nearby. It also shows you the nearest defibrillators and lets you report new ones.
LIFE-SAVING SKILLS
Staying Alive provides tutorials, including videos on recognising a cardiac arrest, performing chest compressions and using a defibrillator. Our FAQ covers the same ground in writing.
CARDIAC ARREST
350,000 a year
Europe records an estimated 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests a year. Around 70% happen in front of a witness, and yet survival is close to 8%. Only early defibrillation changes that.
4 minutes
In a cardiac arrest, time is everything: you have about four minutes. Survival falls by roughly 10% for every minute without chest compressions. Which is why what the witness does, in those first seconds, decides the outcome.
400,000 AEDs
More than 400,000 defibrillators are recorded in Staying Alive. You can locate the ones near you, and also add, validate or correct entries.
THE CHAIN OF SURVIVAL
In a cardiac arrest, resuscitation has to start immediately to preserve any chance of survival.
CALL
Unresponsive and not breathing? Call the emergency number before anything else. 112 across the European Union.
COMPRESS
Lay the person on their back. Give 100 to 120 compressions per minute. Hands in the middle of the breastbone, arms straight, using your body weight to push 5 to 6 cm deep.
DEFIBRILLATE
Open the defibrillator and follow the spoken instructions. An AED is very simple to use and cannot harm you or the person you are helping.
WAIT FOR HELP
Never leave the person alone. Keep going with compressions as needed until professional responders arrive and take over. Leave the pads in place.
