92 Year Old Man Falls from Ladder, Says Apple Watch Fall Detection Saved his Life

A 92-year-old farmer from Omaha, Nebraska is crediting Apple Watch Fall Detection with saving his life after he stumbled off a ladder, reported KETV. Jim Salsman claims he “would’ve been dead” without the help of his Apple Watch.

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Salsman had climbed a 21-foot ladder to “secure a grain bin from pigeons” when a gust of wind pushed the ladder by 2 feet. “It was just a dumb stupid mistake on my part,” Salsman said.

Salsman hit the ground and tried to roll toward his truck but realized that was not possible. He then tried using Siri to reach for help only to realize that the fall detection feature had already alerted the Grant Volunteer Fire Department.

I talked into it, “Hey Siri Jim Salsman, hurt bad on the farm,” he said. He was then informed that the department was already on their way after having tracked him by GPS. 

Salsman was taken to the hospital where he was treated for a broken hip and other fractures. He is now recovering at a rehabilitation hospital in Nebraska.

His son Ron says times have been tough for his father lately. "They’ve lived through droughts and blizzards, and getting cattle in the middle of the night in cold winter weather, so they just had to deal with a lot of adversity over time. And it just becomes a part of them, I think."

Salsman on the other hand is just grateful for his watch. “If I didn’t have this watch, I think that I would’ve been dead before anybody missed me. I really do,” Jim concluded.

The fall detection feature works by detecting when a fall occurs. It then automatically alerts the emergency services if no one dismisses the alert within one minute of being triggered. Apple has also expanded its feature to add a new option that shares Medical ID information with emergency services.