In Germany, 120000 people per year experience sudden cardiac arrest out of a hospital. Only 11% of those survive because they were able to receive timely help. The first step to save a life is performing chest compressions. In addition, AEDs can restart the heart beat using targeted electric impulses. Therefore, in addition to dispatching an ambulance, ambulance services also identify the closest AED and alert trained people who are nearby. These people can bring the AED to the first aiders on site and are trained to use it. In Oldenburg, such helpers are alerted via the CorHelper app (https://www.corhelper.de). Unfortunately, AEDs are often not where they are most needed. And even if AEDs are nearby, it is possible that they can only be accessed during a limited timespan. We want to help ensure that more AEDs can be in the right place at the right time.

In cases of sudden cardiac arrest, automated electronic defibrillators (AEDs) can shock the heart into starting to beat regularly again. It is vital for survival that AEDs are placed where cardiac arrests are likely, but unfortunately, that is rarely the case. With AED Wirkt (AED Works), we pursue two goals:

1. We will identify white spaces on the map of Oldenburg that are insufficiently covered by AEDs and increase public awareness of AEDs
2. We are developing a decision support tool that helps citizens and companies who want to make a difference to systematically reduce those white spaces when purchasing a new AED.

Together with experts from the Großleitstelle Oldenburger land, the Johanniter Unfallhilfe, and the city of Oldenburg, we identify relevant data sets, visualise them on a map, and determine areas that are undersupplied with AEDs. Based on these data, we create an interactive decision support tool that helps companies and citizens find a useful place for new AEDs – thus reducing the undersupply of AEDs one AED at a time.