In a region where each traffic jam can delay help, the sudden stopping of a heart rarely leaves more than a few minutes to act. Between the call to 15 or 18 and the arrival of the Samu or firefighters, the treatment time is often crucial for the victims.
To fill this “lost” time, French Red Cross deploys from Friday February 20 in
Île-de-France a network of first responders Red Cross : 300 volunteer first responderseach equipped with a connected portable defibrillator. After a pilot phase launched in 2024 in Hérault, Savoie and Pas-de-Calais, these volunteers have already carried out 204 interventions. In a region where there are approximately 4,000 cardiac arrests per year, the promise is concrete.
Why Île-de-France is relying on Red Cross first responders
Faced with cardiac arrest, every minute without an electric shock reduces the chances of survival by 10 to 12%. However, public emergency services take on average thirteen minutes to arrive, when the first responders Red Cross usually reach the victim twice as fast. Their role is not to replace the Samu or the firefighters, but to hold this critical period of time thanks to cardiac massage and the defibrillator.
© Clément Auray
On FranceInfo, the association’s national medical advisor, Daniel Meyran, summarizes the issue: “We know that in the management of serious emergencies, cardiac arrests, loss of consciousness and serious hemorrhages, it is the actions of the first witnesses in the seconds and minutes following the accident that improve the life prognosis of patients.,” he recalls. “This is why we are developing first responders who can arrive quickly and give patients first aid.”.
Who are these 300 citizen rescuers equipped with a defibrillator?
These first aid citizens are volunteers of the French Red Crosstrained in lifesaving actions. Everyone carries a Lifeaz defibrillator, a French manufacturer, on a daily basis. Unlike devices fixed in public spaces, it remains available 24 hours a day.”It is a very simple to use, compact, light and immediately available device, at home, in my car, in my bag or at work,” describes Clément Marragou, volunteer first aid worker.
For Clément Marragou, commitment never stops. “The first time, I was triggered while I was in the shower at home to intervene with a neighbor,” he tells franceinfo. “I had a second intervention in the office“. He also remembers: “Our last intervention was a colleague who was able to save a 47-year-old mother who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in front of her children.”.
How these first responders intervene in Île-de-France
When a witness calls 15, 18 or 112 for serious illness, the emergency services, firefighters or neighbors can simultaneously trigger a first responder Red Cross geolocated nearby. This rescuer joins the victim with his connected portable defibrillatorbegins the cardiac massage and places the device while waiting for the medical teams to arrive.
Their mission does not replace the Samu or the firefighters, but it can change the prognosis. In a region that has nearly 4,000 cardiac arrests per year, these “everyday superheroes” could change the countdown.