Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and the Dutch Heart Foundation (Hartstichting) today announced they are entering into a three-year strategic partnership to improve the lives of cardiovascular patients and people in high-risk groups in the Netherlands. Together, they aim to ensure that people suffering from cardiovascular disease, and those with an elevated risk of getting the disease, receive help in good time and are treated as effectively as possible. One of the key aims is to make the Netherlands a ‘6-minute cardiac arrest’ zone by extending a sustainable network of community first responders and AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) across the entire country. This will enable an estimated 2,500 lives to be saved each year. The partnership agreement was signed today by Floris Italianer, Director of the Dutch Heart Foundation, and Henk Valk, Market Leader Benelux at Philips, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

This important new partnership has several key focus areas. In addition to saving more lives in the Netherlands, it will also focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle, specifically targeting an estimated 100,000 households in the Netherlands where families are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The Dutch Heart Foundation and Philips will also work closely together on innovations and technologies that can help to promote better cardiology treatments. This will include greater sharing of knowledge, expertise and resources in the field of cardiology care, acute care and care at home.

Philips cooperates closely with leading cardiologists and patients to develop solutions that really improve the quality of life for cardiovascular patients.

Improving the lives of Dutch citizens
“The Dutch Heart Foundation is working on solutions to ensure people’s hearts remain as healthy as possible so that everyone can enjoy life to the full,” said Floris Italianer. “We want to prevent more people being affected by cardiovascular disease, and in order to do that we need to be able to detect and diagnose cardiovascular disease at an earlier stage and treat it as effectively as possible. By working together with Philips we can speed up this process and create more of an impact.”

“Philips cooperates closely with leading cardiologists and patients to develop solutions that really improve the quality of life for cardiovascular patients,” explained Henk Valk. “Technological innovations in the fields of diagnostics, imaging and information science will enable integrated care paths, which in turn will lead to a better experience for the patient. Philips’ ambition is to improve the lives of 3 billion people worldwide by 2025, and this partnership with the Dutch Heart Foundation ties in seamlessly with this broader ambition and brings us closer to achieving our goal.”

Partnership activities in 2018
As part of the three-year partnership, various activities will be rolled out that target the key focus areas. For example, to achieve nationwide coverage by the end of 2018, the partnership aims to increase the number of AEDs registered in the resuscitation call-out system to at least 30,000. To this end, a registration campaign will be launched to register existing AEDs in the resuscitation call-out system and make them available 24/7. Furthermore, Philips and the Dutch Heart Foundation are working together to help promote the shared acquisition of Community AEDs. Attention will also be devoted to research in CardioLab – a joint partnership initiative between Delft University of Technology, Philips and the Dutch Heart Foundation that focuses on data-driven innovations in cardiology treatment.

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