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Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

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481–490 of 686 posts

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for all cases but there are often unknown medical conditions involved. My aunt got the flu one year and it weakened her heart so much that she required a transplant and while she lived for a while after that, she died at 27. Please vaccinate yourselves and loved ones even for the flu.

A friend of mine runs a charity [1] that deals with providing AED (Automated External Defibrillator) devices to organisations. These things save lives. They can deliver shocks to the heart if necessary and can guide laypeople through giving CPR until help arrives (I think many models now actually tell you if you aren't giving strong enough compressions, for example). I would also highly recommend people go through th…

i see those AEDs popping up around, ie in the office, train station, every pharmacy around has them. My wife is an emergency doctor, an she has clear opinion about those - yes they save lives, but in most cases, people will end up as 'vegetables' (not sure what's the proper english term for +-brain death). I only presume she meant more severe heart attacks that would normally result in death prior to emergency arriving or shortly after.

So don't expect miracles where none are currently possible. Do all you can obviously in case of need, and ideally make yourself familiar with procedures a bit, any delay will worsen the chances.

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#482
post #480

Until an Apple Watch is able to work with my ANT+ powermeter it's something I would avoid taking on a bike ride. Garmin, Whahoo and other bike computers have had off crash alerts via a linked phone for, maybe, 10 years I think. Certainly since the Garmin Edge 1000 at least. That's a better fit for me as I'd never ride without my phone in a jersey pocket. I'd always want a screen in front of me and not on my wrist.

Have you heard of that feature actually working? Fall detection is going to be _a lot_ less reliable from a phone than a wrist watch. In fact when I googled it one of the top three results is 'how do I turn off incident detection on my Garmin' due to false alerts.

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#483
post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be to sure the Apple watch is even comparable to 1-lead ECG, simply due to the difference of how ECG is attached to you and how the Apple watch is. Through this doesn't mean the Apple watch can't be a useful addition, just don't rely on it.

I would imagine it is possible the sensor in an Apple watch is more sophisticated than a single ecg lead.

12 lead ECG is just a technology. There could be other techniques. However, the Apple Watch might be comparable to higher number of leads but never be identical to the number of leads.

Except, when you wear additional bracelets at your both legs, the other hand, both shoulders and another 6 on your chest. Then yes ;). And consider the continuous cyborgization of our society, that is not that far away.

The 12 lead ECG is about detecting the electrical impulses of heart beats from different angles of your bodies.

If you found a technology to detect these mV values from a meter away ... tell me ;) We will be rich ;)

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#485
I bet this is a great feature (and I do have an Apple Watch), but can we please hold for a sec here? This piece reads like an Ad. Furthermore, many comments here are about "I want to see my kids grow up". Now please, calculate the odds of:

- you are in a terrible accident

- there is no one around you to call an ambulance

- you can’t call an ambulance yourself, because you are knocked out or can’t move

I think the odds for such an event are rather low. If you like smart watches, sure, go ahead and buy one. But for everybody who just wants to wear it because they are afraid: I don’t think it’s necessary for most people, unless you ride around alone in remote areas and are inexperienced or whatever.

My point is: don’t buy because of fear if your risk profile is super incredibly low.

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be totally fair you purchased the 5X, the biggest one on offer. A comparison with the 5S (6S now?) would be more reasonable.

Doesn’t really change the other arguments, does it?

No, but they are subjective anyway. But I do personally agree the Apple integration and UI is much nicer, they know what they are doing in that department. I would be interested to know how the multisport features compare on the apple watch. In my eyes the fenix series is for triathletes/endurance athletes and if you don't have excellent battery life it's a non-starter. And last I heard it doesn't have ANT+ support which is another blocker for me since none of my bike stuff has BLE.

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#487
post #480

Until an Apple Watch is able to work with my ANT+ powermeter it's something I would avoid taking on a bike ride. Garmin, Whahoo and other bike computers have had off crash alerts via a linked phone for, maybe, 10 years I think. Certainly since the Garmin Edge 1000 at least. That's a better fit for me as I'd never ride without my phone in a jersey pocket. I'd always want a screen in front of me and not on my wrist.

Have you heard of that feature actually working? Fall detection is going to be _a lot_ less reliable from a phone than a wrist watch. In fact when I googled it one of the top three results is 'how do I turn off incident detection on my Garmin' due to false alerts.

Well I never actually used it myself as I haven't crashed for years but I know it's there. Equally though I've never heard of this working from an Apple Watch before so I don't think my anecdotal opinion on that is worth raising.

I do know I use stuff like VO2Max estimation, FTP estimation, recovery estimation, power zones analysis and hill descriptions for climbing while on the bike and those features are not available on an Apple Watch to my knowledge. I know for sure that Apple doesn't support ANT+ and that's important for me.

An Apple Watch might be a good companion if you're a runner or a cycle commuter but it appears to be pretty limited if you want to use it for cycle sport.

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#488
post #485

I bet this is a great feature (and I do have an Apple Watch), but can we please hold for a sec here? This piece reads like an Ad. Furthermore, many comments here are about "I want to see my kids grow up". Now please, calculate the odds of: - you are in a terrible accident - there is no one around you to call an ambulance - you can’t call an ambulance yourself, because you are knocked out or can’t move I think the odd…

> I think the odds for such an event are rather low.

And I guess you are writing just to the young users. There are a lot of old people living alone (in the part of the world where such watches are affordable). Falling, even in their own house, then remaining immobile and unable to call for help is a common cause of huge problems (1) (2).

The specialized devices already exist too, but a lot of people don't carry them, until they already suffer such event and also have luck to survive. Such people (who would otherwise not survive) get potentially (if the system do engage and what follows can be influenced) a huge benefit in a watch that has such functionality.

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1) https://www.medicalalertadvice.com/fall-detection/ also:

"With the monthly costs nearly twice that of a traditional medical alert monitoring system, the cost alone may be the deciding factor. Is the extra costs worth it? Only you can make that decision. Keep in mind, these emergency alert systems cannot detect 100% of all falls."

2) Also see the exponential increase of chances to die with age:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gompertz%E2%80%93Makeham_law_o...

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#489
post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Near 50% effectiveness is quite a bit better than the (in my opinion) 0% effectiveness of prayer

That's not opinion - no study has shown prayer to have any effectiveness on flu symptoms.

I'm not aware of any studies showing that it has no effect either.

If I had to guess I would estimate a prayer to be as effective as a placebo, but to proclaim that as fact seems a bit unscientific.

Re: Bike crash left Spokane man unconscious, so his Apple Watch called 911

#490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the overall estimated effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine for preventing medically attended, laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection was 47%" https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6806a2.htm Couldn't find the prayer stats.

Couldn't find the prayer stats. I doubt there are any. It seems like a study fraught with problems, to put it mildly.

I can’t find the source now but I remember hearing about a study into the efficacy of prayer. Briefly, the study recruited several Christians to pray for patients in a hospital. The patients were split into three groups: a control group who weren’t prayed for, a group who were prayed for but who weren’t told, and a group who were prayed for and were informed that they were being prayed for. Allegedly the patients in the last group had the most issues with concern and depression, allegedly because they assumed that because they were being prayed for, they were in fact really seriously ill.
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