Elderly Georgia Man’s Apple Watch Saves Him from Freezing to Death

We frequently hear stories that demonstrate that the Apple Watch is far more than just a convenience or a toy — it’s a device that tangibly helps to improve the health of its users, and surprisingly often even saves people’s lives.

Whether someone lives a risky lifestyle, has a pre-existing medical condition, or is simply advanced in years, there are many benefits to owning an Apple Watch. Apple’s wearable has saved cyclists from raging rivers, helped folks stranded at sea, saved others from falling off cliffs, detected deadly heart conditions, and much more.

In fact, just last month we heard about an 85-year-old Canadian man saved by the Fall Detection feature. He was living alone and had it not been for his Apple Watch, he may have laid unconscious for hours, or even days, before somebody discovered his body. Instead, his Apple Watch detected the fall and called for help on his behalf.

Now, a similar story from Morrow, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, shows how an Apple Watch summoned help for another elderly man in potentially even more dire circumstances.

According to CBS46 News, an unnamed “older resident” fell outdoors in freezing temperatures and was unable to call for help on his own. Instead, his Apple Watch contacted 911 on his behalf, summoning the Morrow Fire Department and Morrow Police to respond, finding him only 12 minutes after the Apple Watch placed the call.

As City of Morrow Fire Department Deputy Chief Jeff Moss explained, the GPS on the Apple Watch provided dispatchers with the closest address. However, because the man had fallen outside, emergency crews had to search the perimeter to locate him.

Since an Apple Watch initiated the call, the location of the call could only be determined by the watch’s GPS, which reported the closest address. The Morrow Fire Department crew arrived on the scene with Morrow Police units and quickly noticed that the physical address was not where the patient was located and began a search of the perimeter.Jeff Moss, Deputy Chief, City of Morrow Fire Department

They quickly found the man near some shrubbery, noting that he was “semi-conscious, confused, and extremely cold to the touch,” due to the extremely low temperatures.

They transported him to the nearest hospital, where he was treated and later released. However, the fire department noted that things could have been much worse, particularly as the man also had an “ongoing medical condition.”

Elderly Family Members Don’t Need an iPhone to Benefit from an Apple Watch

The report doesn’t specify the exact age of the man in the report, beyond saying that he was “an older resident” of the community. The implication is that he was elderly, and obviously alone at the time, with nothing apart from his Apple Watch to save him.

If you have elderly family members who live alone, it’s clear that getting them an Apple Watch can offer some incredible peace of mind, and it’s worth pointing out here that they don’t need to have an iPhone to benefit from many of the wearable’s most important life-saving features.

Thanks to the Family Setup Feature that Apple launched in watchOS 7 last year, you can pick up an affordable Apple Watch model, such as the Apple Watch SE, and set it up for another family member using your own iPhone.

You then only need to make sure that Fall Detection and Emergency SOS are enabled, which are generally on by default for anybody over 18 years of age. Unfortunately, some of the more advanced health monitoring features aren’t available with Family Setup, such as Blood Oxygen, ECG, and Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications, but users over the age of 13 will still get high and low heart-rate notifications, which can also be life-saving features.

Note that the photos provided in this article are visual portrayals and are not representative of the actual people or locations mentioned previously.