Apple watch and falls

Crushed · March 3

DW was always the techie and now my son in law has the role

Everyone insisted I should get an Apple Watch for its fall notification. When your children are as smart as mine you do as you are told. so I got the watch

On my recent cruise through the Panama canal I was in Puerto Vallarta Mexico and I tripped on the curb and fell on my face and hands as I was getting on the boat. Staff picked me up, shaken but not broken and as my phone was going through the X-Ray it started ringing. It was my daughters in Maryland who had been alerted that I had fallen and had not shut off the help signal. This was about a minute after I fell. IT WORKED EVEN IN MEXICO

Since I was a professor of safety regulation i was impressed beyond description. It is easy to set up and seems very rugged. I have suggested it to a friend whose wife is a fall risk but I think all caretakers should consider it. I wear it in the shower. They are available used from reputable sources and the extra phone line is very cheap. You just have to charge them each night

M1 · March 3

My kids want me to get one too crushed. Thanks for the endorsement.....

Joydean · March 4

M1 you really should get one. My kids pushed me to get one after I passed out in late October and ended up in the ER. I didn’t get a different phone line. Since you are in a rural area (I am too) I feel a lot safer wearing my watch. I put all 3 of my kids as contacts. I am not a tech person but it is so easy to set up. I got mine at Costco! If you don’t like the band that comes with it you can buy different ones. They are sensitive because mine has gone off several times. You just press the button and it doesn’t go anywhere. Check them out!!

M1 · March 4

My cell service in the house is spotty, not sure it would work. Probably good for in the yard/fields though.

Jgirl57 · March 4

Thank you Crushed for a great idea. Glad you are OK .

Ed1937 · March 4

Always good to hear about gadgets that actually do what they are supposed to.

Mint · March 4

Thank you for sharing this. Going to consider this.

fmb · March 5

@M1 Cell service in my house is virtually nonexistent, but I have my cell phone set to make/receive calls using my wifi, which I leave on all the time. I don't own an Apple watch, but I wonder if they also have the capability to transmit over wifi.

SSHarkey · March 5

That’s amazing! I had no idea! I’d get one today if I could. But I have a pacemaker and smart watches are taboo. Evidently they mess with the signals.

aconite · March 6

Just a couple of months after I got mine I hurt myself in the garden and was able to call for help. So we'll worth it! I don't usually carry my phone in the garden since it usually falls out of my pocket. And it gives me a way to call always with me in the house too.

MN Chickadee · March 10

I know a couple seniors in my life who have them. For one she was having a stroke in the mall parking lot, wasn't thinking straight and called her son instead of 911 and he was able to see her location from the watch and called an ambulance to her. For the other person it detected irregular heart beats and gave her an alert to call her doctor. Turned out her heart was stopping during the night due to apnea she didn't know she had. Even the cheaper models, around $300, can be a life saver! Yes would also be good for a caregiver, since it will automatically call 911 if they fall and are unresponsive. Or if they are responsive but unable to get up they can use the watch to call or text anyone since the watch is always on your wrist and a cell phone could be sitting anywhere in the house. They take a little over an hour to fully charge so my mother in law charges hers while she watches tv at night and then it's ready to go the other 23 hours a day.

harshedbuzz · March 10

I wear one and was so impressed with it that I encouraged mom to get one.

She did get a pendant after rooming in the hospital with a woman who was trapped for 2 12/ days when her foot went through decking on a back porch. In the 2 years she had it, I never caught her wearing it. Her excuses for not wearing it included "I'm just in the house", "the pendant doesn't work with this neckline" and "it just makes me look old".

She thinks the Apple Watch is a cool girl accessory since I have one. It has worked as promised for both of us. I was notified when she had a hard fall outside her community library which was great.

HB

We both have an SE with cellular service. The cellular comes in handy when I'm not carrying my phone.

HB

Rosi's Mom · March 11

I also have an SE with cellular service. I have it set to dial my closest son-in-law who retired recently with one touch. It has a number of safety features. It's supposed to alert if you are in a collision. Don't want to test that feature!