Step 1
The city of Venray: birthplace of Rotaid’s cabinets
It all started in 2007 in a small Dutch town where a group of people wanted to make a difference. The problem: medical services were not able to respond to each out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. At that time, bystanders could do nothing else but wait for the ambulance to arrive.
Step 2
The idea: AEDs should be publicly available
It became clear that a forward system was needed, one that could assist paramedics in a timely arrival of defibrillators and responders. This led to the installation of 50 public accessible defibrillators in outdoor cabinets within the city. The Rotaid cabinet was specifically designed for this project.
Step 3
A concept applicable to everywhere
Boosted by the results, Ruben Halmans decided to further develop the Rotaid cabinet: ‘’if it works in my own town, it could work in other towns as well!’’. Packed with an enormous amount of practical experience, he founded Rotaid AED Cabinets.
Step 4
The global symbol for an AED
More than 15 years, and 90.000 cabinets later, Rotaid AED Cabinets has become the global symbol for an AED.
