From the story
Gary Grasmick, a 68-year-old retired federal IT worker who lives by himself, was carrying groceries into his Washington, D.C., row house two years ago when he felt his knee give out. Overweight and unable to get up, and with no phone in reach, he lay there for at least two nights as dehydration and a urinary tract infection led to sepsis. His kidneys started shutting down and he grew delirious.
Mr. Grasmick tried to drag himself to a phone and a sink but couldn’t get there. He began to lose track of time.
A friend became worried when he didn’t return her calls and called the police. When emergency personnel found him, his brain had swelled. In his delirium he thought that hospital caretakers were trying to hurt him. It wasn’t until an old fraternity brother showed up to visit that he fully understood what had happened. “Then I felt safe,” he says.
After more than two weeks in intensive care, and six months in a skilled nursing facility, he returned home last year and made some changes. Mr. Grasmick installed an emergency call box he can trigger from a wrist band, and began tucking a cellphone into the shirt pocket on his pajamas before he climbs into bed at night.
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