Apple Watch Emergency SOS saves woman after near-fatal carbon monoxide poisoning

Emergency SOS on Apple Watch

Apple Watch may be known for saving people due to abnormal heart rate alerts or fall detection, but it's also a great communication device. If one woman's Apple Watch wasn't strapped to her wrist, the results could have been fatal.

According to a report from CBS News Philadelphia, discovered by 9to5Mac, A Delaware student named Natalie Nasatka was able to use her Apple Watch to contact emergency services before losing consciousness from carbon monoxide poisoning. She was feeling the symptoms associated with carbon monoxide poisoning, like exhaustion and dizziness, and managed to use the Emergency SOS feature on her Apple Watch to contact emergency services.

The fire department showed up and saved her. According to the fire department, carbon monoxide levels were dangerously high at 80 parts per million.

"When I heard the firefighters yell out 'fire department' and they yanked me out of bed, I just started crying and saying 'I want to live. I want to live,'" she said in the report. "I've been riding waves of emotions."

A faulty heater may have been the culprit in leaking excess levels of carbon monoxide. Nasatka says she didn't have a carbon monoxide detector.

Apple Watch Emergency SOS

By default, your Apple Watch can call emergency services by holding the Side Button down for 5 seconds. Holding the button will reveal a menu, and then a timer will start counting down.

Emergency SOS will contact emergency services, like 911 in the United States. It also sends a message to all of your registered emergency contacts.

Like in Nasatka's case, the ability to get ahold of emergency responders can depend entirely on what device is on you or nearby. This is why Apple Watch can be such an important tool, as it's always with you.