Anyone who suffers a cardiac arrest in Almere can receive life-saving help anywhere in the municipality within 6 minutes. Almere is a frontrunner as one of the municipalities with a full 6-minute zone. To celebrate this milestone, the alert system HartslagNu presented the 6-minute heart-safe zone sign to Alderman Nienke Nieuwenhuizen of Public Health on February 18, 2026.
“As a doctor, I know how incredibly important those first minutes after a cardiac arrest are. Every second counts. That we can now start resuscitation and use an AED within 6 minutes throughout Almere is something to be proud of,” explains Nieuwenhuizen, who is also a geriatric specialist. This is not just a paper milestone, but a result of dedicated Almere residents ready to help their neighbors. Together we make our city more caring and safer. At the same time, we continuously need new, also younger, citizen rescuers. A heart-safe city requires ongoing commitment from all of us.”
AED stands for Automated External Defibrillator; it is a portable device that analyses the heart rhythm during cardiac arrest and delivers an electric shock if necessary to restart the heart.
Crucial involvement of residents
This milestone is thanks to the efforts of Almere residents registered as citizen rescuers via HartslagNu and those who have applied for subsidies for AEDs. These residents follow resuscitation training and are ready to help when needed. They also actively contribute to the purchase and management of AEDs in their neighborhoods.
The municipality of Almere supports these initiatives with a support scheme. Residents can receive a contribution for the purchase and maintenance of an AED under certain conditions.
Why a 6-minute zone?
During cardiac arrest, blood circulation stops. Without resuscitation and an electric shock with an AED, the chance of survival decreases by about 10% per minute. After 4–6 minutes, there is a risk of permanent brain damage. After 10 minutes without help, the chance of survival is small. A quick start of resuscitation and use of an AED within 6 minutes greatly increases survival chances. This means a 112 emergency call must be made within that time. Immediately after, citizen rescuers nearby must be alerted and preferably start resuscitation with an AED. HartslagNu calls this a 6-minute zone.
Targeted actions by the municipality
Besides residents’ involvement, the municipality has actively worked in recent years to achieve full AED coverage. Based on data from HartslagNu, targeted actions were taken in areas where coverage was insufficient. Existing AEDs were made more accessible by placing them outdoors, and businesses were actively approached to register their AEDs. The municipality also ran campaigns to recruit more citizen rescuers. This approach has now achieved full coverage.
Citizen rescuers remain needed
Although there is 100% AED coverage and the 6-minute zone is achieved, citizen rescuers are still urgently needed in Almere. Nationwide, there is a shortage of resuscitation volunteers because many people are wrongly afraid of making mistakes. To recruit more citizen rescuers, the Heart Foundation started a national campaign. Almere joins this with a local campaign to encourage more residents to register. The campaign targets (younger) people willing to become citizen rescuers.
Photo 6 minutes heart-safe with from left to right: Beert Smit from HartslagNu, Alderman Nienke Nieuwenhuizen and citizen rescuer Sohret Kubra Rizeli.
