An Apple Watch Saved This Man’s Life by Calling For Help After a Bad Fall

It has been well documented how the Apple Watch has often warned users about potential health issues which allowed them to get treatment in time. Now, we are also seeing the Fall Detection feature play its part in saving lives. Over the weekend, a man from Spokane, Washington posted on social media the details of how an Apple Watch saved his father’s life. Gabe Burdett says the father and son duo were supposed to meet up at a pre-designated location for some mountain biking at the Riverside State Park. At some point while waiting for his father, Bob Burdett, he received a text on his phone from his father’s Apple Watch, which said that a hard fall had been detected along with a map to his present location. At the same time, the Watch also notified the emergency services who responded immediately.

“We drove straight there—but he was gone when we arrived. I get another update from the watch saying his location has changed with a map location of SHMC. Dad flipped his bike at the bottom of Doomsday, hit his head and was knocked out until sometime during the ambulance ride,” says Burdett in a post on Facebook with photos of his father who is now recovering and the broken Apple Watch which detected the fall and sent the notifications to the emergency services. He says the Watch had also called 911 with his father’s location and the emergency medical services had his father in the hospital in less than half an hour.

“My brother was already driving by the hospital when the second update came in and was able to be with him right away. Dad is doing great, clear X-Rays and CT scan, but a little sore for sure! If you own an Apple Watch, set up your hard fall detection—it's not just for when you fall off a roof or a ladder. Had he fallen somewhere on the High Drive trails or another remote area, the location would have clued EMS in on where to find him. Amazing technology and so glad he had it!” he writes further.

To set up Fall Detection on the Apple Watch, you need to head to the Watch app on the iPhone -> tap the My Watch tab -> Select Emergency SOS option and -> Turn Fall Detection on.