Glenview Illinois Doctor Rescued After Apple Watch Calls For Help

You've probably seen the commercials for Apple Watches that highlight the watch's ability to reach out to emergency responders for help when it detects a hard fall or car accident. If you haven't, take 30 seconds and check it out:

It's a really cool feature, but I'll admit to wondering just how often that sort of thing happens, and if that feature alone is worth buying the watch. In the interests of full disclosure, I'll tell you that I do not own any type of smartwatch, and I'm certainly not trying to sell you one with this.

The Glenview, Illinois man who says his Apple Watch saved him seems more than happy to do a sales pitch, but then again, it was his life that was saved, not mine.

We've All Seen The Statistics That Say Most Accidents Occur At Home Or Very Close To It

And, according to a report from NBCChicago.com, Dr. Thomas Ficho was doing some home maintenance by power-washing the bricks on his Glenview home when he needed to reach up a bit higher.

Like many homes with basement window-wells, Ficho's window-wells have a cover over them that he decided to use as a makeshift step-stool to get at the hard to reach spot. The cover gave way when Ficho stepped on it, and he plunged over 5 feet into the window-well.

With Its Owner Lying Injured On His Side In The Window-Well, The Smartwatch Did What It's Programmed To Do

Dr. Ficho told NBCChicago.com that "I was laying on the bottom of this, kind of curled up. My right side hurt a lot. I could have died down there, but my watch called 911."

He went on to explain that after a few minutes, he had enough strength to climb out of the window-well, only to find a Glenview cop standing on his lawn asking if Ficho was okay, and whether or not he needed paramedics. The police officer then told him that the watch had called in the emergency.

So, how often does this feature save the day? A lot more often than I thought. Click below for examples:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3