Smartwatches as Medical Alert Devices

It’s fairly common for older adults – or their family members – to want to have a way to get help in the event of a fall or other medical emergency. But most devices designed for this purpose are considered unappealing by many older people.

So I was very interested to learn last fall that Apple’s latest smartwatch included automatic fall detection.

Now should I start recommending a smartwatch to older adults who need a medical alert device? I wasn’t sure, so I turned to one of my favorite aging tech reviewers, Richard Caro of Tech-Enhanced Life.

Richard recently spent a few weeks carefully testing and reviewing four types of smartwatches that can serve as medical alert devices in the event of a fall or other personal health emergency.

In a recent podcast episode, he shared his findings and we discussed smartwatches and personal emergency response systems (PERS). Among the things we covered:

• The Tech-Enhanced Life approach to evaluating innovations and newer technologies
• The problem with existing medical alert devices
• What key things to consider, when choosing a personal emergency response system (PERS) device and service
• Why Richard and Dr. K recommend automatic fall-detection in a medical alert device
• Which four smartwatch devices Richard selected for further testing
• The difference between the Apple Watch 3 and 4, when it comes to using them as a medical alert
• Why most medical alert services charge a monthly fee
• How these newer smartwatch devices compare to more traditional PERS devices
• The benefits of being able to “practice” summoning help
• Richard’s preferred combo of medical alert features that no smartwatch offers (yet)
• What to keep in mind if considering a medical alert for someone with dementia

If you’ve been considering using a smartwatch as a PERS device, I think you’ll enjoy this episode. You can find it here:

080-Interview: Smartwatches as Medical Alert Devices (What to Know and How to Choose)

What do you think of using the currently available smartwatches as a personal emergency response device? I’d love to hear from you in the comments here, or you can post your comment on the podcast episode page.