How a smartwatch saved this grandad's life
A grandfather-of-nine is counting his blessings after his life was miraculously saved by a simple smart watch.
Jason Potts says he was spring-cleaning his gutters when he fell backward, over his neighbour’s fence and onto a solid concrete path.
“I climbed the ladder, pulled the trigger and it immediately pushed me away from the house. So I reached out and grabbed onto the timber and it broke in my hand, it just crumbled,” he explained to 7NEWS.
After the 54-year-old fell to the ground, a familiar voice sounded - “Hello, is anyone there? Can you hear me?”
“Your Apple Watch has detected a hard fall and called 000. Do you require an ambulance?” the person said.
The watch had alerted emergency services, as well as his wife as she was listed as an emergency contact.
“I’m 107kg so I had 107kg of weight land on my head and my shoulder,” he said.
“I received four messages saying that Jay had had a hard fall and it (included) his last location,” his wife said.
The call proved to be life-saving as Potts suffered a dislocated collarbone, fractures to his spine and ribs, and a serious head injury.
Thankfully, the happy-go-lucky grandad says his near-death experience has not fazed him in the slightest - admitting he will be back up the ladder to finish the job as soon as he can.