A grateful son is praising the Apple Watch after it helped his father get the emergency assistance he needed when no one else was around.
According to Gabe Burdett, both he and his dad, Bob Burdett, were planning to meet up in Riverside State Park in Washington State to go mountain biking, when he received a notification.
As Gabe explained on Facebook in his “public service announcement,” the notification was from his dad’s Apple Watch, letting him know that Bob had just experienced a hard fall:
PSA: Last Sunday while trying to meet up with my dad for some mountain biking in Riverside State Park (MTB in RSP), I get a text from dad’s Apple Watch letting me know it “detected a Hard Fall” with a map to his location. It was not far from our meeting spot. 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.
Before Gabe could even reach his father, Bob’s Apple Watch had already notified emergency responders that he needed help.
PSA: Last Sunday while trying to meet up with my dad for some mountain biking in Riverside State Park (MTB in RSP), I…
Posted by Gabe Burdett on Friday, 20 September 2019
By the time Gabe reach the location where the accident occurred, Bob was already in an ambulance on his way to the hospital. Gabe continued:
Dad flipped his bike at the bottom of Doomsday, hit his head and was knocked out until sometime during the ambulance ride. The watch had called 911 with his location and EMS had him scooped up and to the hospital in under a 1/2 hr. The fire dept. took his bike back to the station. My brother was already driving by the hospital when the second update came in and was able to be with him right away.
Thanks to Bob’s Apple Watch and the quick response of the emergency responders, Gabe writes that his father is “doing great”:
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!
According to Apple’s support website, here’s how you can turn “fall detection” on, on your Apple Watch:
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, then tap the My Watch tab.
- Tap Emergency SOS.
- Turn Fall Detection on or off.
Apple indicates that if the fall detection alert activates, but you are okay, users have the option to let the watch know so emergency personnel is not contacted. However, if you are in a situation similar to Bob’s, the watch will contact first responders if you are immobile for longer than one minute.
Gabe’s PSA quickly went viral with over 354,000 people sharing the message.