In a viral Facebook post last week, a US man credited the Apple Watch for saving his father’s life after a biking accident near Riverside State Park in the US state of Washington. The post, which was even ‘liked’ by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, was apparently from a Spokane, Washington, resident who identified himself as Gabe Burdett.
According to the post, Burdett was waiting for his father, Bob, at their pre-designated location to go mountain biking together when he received a notification from his dad’s Apple Watch, alerting him to a ‘hard fall’ suffered by Burdett senior. The message also provided him with his father’s location, he said. Burdett later received another update from the Watch, saying his father had reached the Sacred Heart Medical Center.
“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”, Burdett wrote on Facebook.
The Watch notified 911 with the location, and within 30 minutes, emergency medical services (EMS) took the injured man to the hospital. “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”, Burdett said. According to him, “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”.
Ever since its launch, there have been several examples of the Apple Watch saving lives around the world. A US doctor recently saved a person’s life by using Apple Watch Series 4 on his wrist to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) at a restaurant. An Apple Watch user in the UK was recently alerted about his low heart rate by the device. It revealed a serious heart condition that ultimately needed a surgery.
With inputs from IANS
