Hello? What is your emergency? 🆘

Today I want to talk about safety in the context of medical necessity and how technology can help with independent living. This is a question that I’ve struggled with for ages and where I’ve finally been able to make a start.

Of course many things that I tell in this blog are still under development, but enough to tell about. Do you have any tips or ideas for me? Please let me know! I try to find the best possible solution for myself and for others, in order to make life a lot more pleasant.

As some people know I am familiar with heart rhythm problems, this can cause me to faint easily in some cases. In the past there was always someone nearby, who was familiar with my medical problem and could act if it ever happened.

Now that I live independently, that has become a different story. If something should happen now at home, there is certainly a 30-minute arrival time and how do they enter my home? And there is something else that really bothers me.

Normally you would use a personal alarm in these types of cases, but the problem is that you will receive equipment that is intended for people of older age (let’s say elderly). This is totally out of line with people of my age, we don’t want a pendant with a button or a watch with a large push button.

You want something that fits more in your lifestyle, such as a smart watch. Is a smart watch reimbursed? No, because we are behind in the use of new technology. Is there a company that already works with smart applications in this case? I’ve not (yet) encountered them. Although there was a company at IFA Berlin 2019, that came close to what I was looking for.

Fortunately I’ve now found a way that makes it sufficient for me 😀

In House

To start with the basics, how did I arrange it in my own studio? What can I do to alert someone?

First I’ve a Telegram group, with contacts that I want to alert. Including my own Home Assistant Telegram bot. In house there are 2 ways to trigger the emergency “protocol”:

• There is a physical button (Xiaomi smart switch) in the center of the house
• I can ask Google Home to activate the protocol

When I activate the protocol, my Telegram bot will place a message in the group with a piece of text, my location (a map and a human-readable address) and my telephone number.

It’s intended that someone will call me, if I don’t answer then someone comes to the last known address. If I answer, I can indicate what is going on and whether it is necessary to come or not.

Inside Home Assistant

What you might be most curious about is how I arranged all this in Home Assistant.

I’ve two automations (emergency_alerts.yaml) with which I can set everything in motion. One for when I want to trigger the emergency protocol and one for when it’s a false alarm.

Unfortunately I can’t share all the scripts that is used, it contains sensitive information that I’m not going to throw into the world. However, you will find an anonymous version below ⬇️

script.call_emergency

Everything between square brackets has changed, compared to the original file.

call_emergency:
  alias: 'Emergency'
  sequence:
    # Boolean
    - service: input_boolean.turn_on
      data:
        entity_id: input_boolean.emergency
    # Message
    - service: notify.telegram_emergency
      data:
        title: '*Emergency*'
        message: |-
          [My message to the people]
    # Map
    - service: notify.telegram_emergency
      data:
        title: Location
        message: This is my location
        data:
          location:
            latitude: "{{ state_attr('[DEVICE TRACKER ENTITY]', 'latitude') }}"
            longitude: "{{ state_attr('[DEVICE TRACKER ENTITY]', 'longitude') }}"

script.false_alarm_emergency

In case of a false alarm, this script (false_alarm_emergency.yaml) is executed, which does nothing more than turning off a boolean and sending a message in my Telegram emergency group.

Lovelace

On my dashboard (dashboard.yaml) I use a custom button card that visually shows my status, if there is nothing: it’s green. If I’ve activated the protocol, it will turn red and blink. (just like the images ⬆️)

On the way

But what if I’m not at home?

I can call Google Assistant on my smartwatch and ask to activate the emergency protocol and the same can also be done via my phone (Google Assistant or via a ‘/command‘ to my Telegram bot). Furthermore, the actions that follow are identical to those of when I would be home.

Redundancy

If Home Assistant fails for whatever reason, there is still an alternative available.

When I press a button 3 times on my Galaxy Watch Active 2, an SOS message is sent around and / or my phone calls a contact. This option should always go well and therefore a handy backup.

The best thing would be if the smartwatch called a number from a company that offers professional care in such cases. However, I’ve not found a company that offers a service like this. Just a call center that can be called and that they come along, without taking clumsy hardware that doesn’t suit me. Someone tips?

Future ideas

Currently, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 doesn’t have an ECG function or fall detection, this will hopefully be available in the first quarter of 2020 through a software update.

This would make it possible in the future to automatically alert, if the heart rate is too low (if the measurements are correct…). Or if I passed out and the fall detection registers this.

Are things not clear? Or if you have come to ideas by reading this blog, about how I can make it cooler and better? Share it with me! Via Twitter, mail or Github.