One of the chief concerns about the elderly living at home alone is that if they slip and fall, like in the shower, they might be too hurt to get up to call for help. This is the problem that a trauma surgeon and ER doctor are hoping to solve with an app developed for the Apple Watch that is meant to be able to detect falls for the elderly.
According to the doctors, “Here are the disturbing facts: 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 will fall each year which leads to over 27,000 deaths in the United States. Based on our clinical experience, many patients who have fallen can not reach communication modalities after their fall due to injury or unconscious states. This leads to late presentations to hospitals and worse outcomes.”
With their app called FallCall Now, it will be able to detect when the user has fallen. If it detects that they have, the app will prompt them to double-check if this has happened, and if they have they can then use the app to call for help where they can either reach a central monitoring agency, or they can reach out to family members.
As it stands the app is in the prototype stage and the doctors are looking to help crowdfund it to make it a reality. If you think that this something useful that your elderly parents or grandparents might need, then head on over to MedStartr for the details.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Watch, Apps, Health, Smartwatch and Wearable Tech.