[Editor’s Note: This is a guest article by Darryn Wright. Read more of Darryn’s essays, rambling and rants at his blog: Punk Rock Parkinson’s.]
I watched the Apple September 2019 Keynote Presentation live this year. (You can watch a recorded version here. It’s long, so be prepared.) Normally I just wait until it’s done and then go to the Apple website and see whats new. During the Apple Watch Series 5 presentation something caught my eye and might be of interest to others with Parkinson’s – Fall Detection. This watch can now detect if you have fallen and, in reaction, call 911 and an emergency contact, if needed.
Here is how it works:
If Apple Watch Series 4 or later detects a hard fall while you’re wearing your watch, it taps you on the wrist, sounds an alarm, and displays an alert.
You can choose to contact emergency services or dismiss the alert by either pressing the Digital Crown, tapping Close in the upper-left corner, or tapping “I’m OK.”
If your Apple Watch detects that you’re moving, it waits for you to respond to the alert and won’t automatically call emergency services. If your watch detects that you have been immobile for about a minute, it will make the call automatically. After the call ends, your watch sends a message to your emergency contacts with your location letting them know that your watch detected a hard fall and dialed emergency services. Your watch gets your emergency contacts from your Medical ID.
What happens if your Apple Watch detects that you’re immobile:
If your Apple Watch detects that you’re immobile for about a minute, it begins a 30-second countdown, while tapping you on the wrist and sounding an alert. The alert gets louder, so that you or someone nearby can hear it. If you don’t want to call emergency services, tap Cancel. When the countdown ends, your Apple Watch automatically contacts emergency services.
When the call connects, your Apple Watch plays an audio message that informs emergency services that your Apple Watch detected a hard fall and then it shares your current location as latitude and longitude coordinates. The first time the message plays, the audio is at full volume, but then the volume is reduced so that you, or someone nearby, can talk to the responder. The message continues to play until you tap Stop Recorded Message or the call ends.
Wrist Detection must be turned on for your watch to automatically call emergency services: Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch, tap Passcode, then make sure that Wrist Detection is turned on.
When are falls recorded:
Falls are automatically recorded in the Health app, unless you reply that you didn’t fall when your Apple Watch asks. To check your fall history, open the Health app on your iPhone, tap the Health Data tab, then tap Results.
All of the above info was taken directly from Apple’s website regarding the watch and Fall Detection.
Technology that could be life saving
I personally found this amazing. There were also testimonials from real people giving their stories on how fall detection saved a life along with the heart rate monitor and now the built in EKG (very simplified but still very useful) and how these functions showed them that something was possibly wrong and turned out saving their lives when they went to the doctor and something was actually wrong or at least need to be monitored.
Admittedly I am an Apple honk. It is not because I am a super tech guy. NOTHING could be further from the truth! (Just ask my younger brother, whom I call about once a month for actual IT help! LOL) I like Apple products because I find them VERY user friendly and I need VERY USER FRIENDLY when it comes to technology.
I am now a bigger Apple honk because this Fall Detection technology could be life saving for so many of us with Parkinson’s disease that have balance issues and shuffling issues and so on. You can turn this function on or off. I find this incredible and excited about the fact that Apple is actually doing things with their technology to help people with various conditions or movement disorders.
I do know Samsung is coming out with Fall Detection on their smart watches in the first quarter of 2020. You can read about it here.
I do know that in the future, as my Parkinson’s disease progresses, my wife and I will be very grateful for this type of technology. It will give her peace of mind if she leaves me at home by myself for a while. It will give peace of mind to those of us with Parkinson’s that if we fall and our phone is out of reach, this device will make the call for us to 911 AND contact our emergency contact if necessary! The watch will work even if you don’t get the cellular option, but will have to be within range of your phone via Bluetooth connection. If your like me, I “wear” my phone like I wear a watch. I emailed the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook (tcook@apple.com) and thanked him. I don’t know if he will ever read it but I felt the need to do that.
I am 49 years old and do my best to embrace technology. If you are in your “golden years” please, I implore you to check into and embrace this technology and anything else out there that might keep us safe or possibly even save our lives.
Peace and Love,
Darryn
[Editor’s Note: This is a guest article by Darryn Wright. Read more of Darryn’s essays, rambling and rants at his blog: Punk Rock Parkinson’s.]