How Apple Watch helped this Delaware student call for help after carbon monoxide poisoning

A new report from CBS News this week shares the story of a Delaware student who says her Apple Watch helped save her life after she passed out from carbon monoxide poisoning.

While we’ve seen a number of stories about the Apple Watch’s life-saving health features, this story focuses on the device’s Emergency SOS feature.

While in her Delaware apartment, Natalie Nasatka says that she started feeling “extremely exhausted” and noticed her vision was getting blurry. She ended up losing consciousness and passing out.

Before she passed out, however, Nasatka had the smart inclination to use the Emergency SOS feature on her Apple Watch to call 911. When the fire department arrived, Nasatka was “revived in an ambulance with oxygen.” More testing by the fire department confirmed that carbon monoxide levels in Nasatka’s apartment were very high:

“The carbon monoxide was confirmed because the fire department monitor read 80 parts per million in the apartment, which is extremely high,” she said. She thinks the gas leak came from a faulty heater, which is one of the leading causes for carbon monoxide poisoning in the winter.

Nasatka acknowledges that she should’ve had a carbon monoxide detector in her apartment. A detector would have alerted her to the problem well before the carbon monoxide levels got as high as they did.

How to use Emergency SOS on your Apple Watch

1. Press and hold your watch’s side button (the button below the Digital Crown) until the Emergency Call slider appears.
2. Drag the Emergency Call slider to start the call immediately. Or you can keep holding the side button; after a countdown, your watch calls emergency services automatically.

Apple says that when you make a call with Emergency SOS, Apple Watch automatically calls local emergency services and shares your location with them. When the call ends, your Apple Watch will also send your emergency contacts a text message sharing your current location.

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