Peter Moore is familiar with the power of technology. Over the past few decades, Moore has made a name for himself as a technology executive, working for companies such as Microsoft, SEGA and EA Sports.
Moore is a soccer fan and recently moved from Liverpool to Montecito, where he founded Santa Barbara Sky FC, a professional soccer team scheduled to begin play at UCSB’s Harder Stadium in March 2025.
Despite his limitless experience with technology, and particularly technology related to fitness and sports, Moore was recently reminded of the profound and literally life-saving capabilities of wearable technology.
Friday, July 12, started out like any other day for Moore. Although he felt a little dizzy, he hadn’t noticed anything that would have caused serious concern. Looking back, Moore smiled, remembering driving to the Santa Barbara airport to pick up his daughter and grabbing a Starbucks latte on the way to ease his dizziness.
“I was just a little dizzy. Nothing too serious. And since I’m a normal guy, I thought a fat-free blonde from Starbucks would fix it,” Moore said.
While sitting in the parking lot of Santa Barbara Airport, Moore received a flood of pings from his Apple Watch.
“It said ‘low heart rate.’ And the message ‘low heart rate’ kept coming up. At the lowest point, my heart rate had dropped to 32,” Moore explained.
This steady decline was a frightening departure from his usual readings, which had been perfectly normal until then. Moore sent screenshots to his wife, Debbie, who immediately took him to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Moore was abruptly catapulted into the frenzied chaos of the emergency room at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
“I was rushed by an emergency team and immediately given an IV and ECG sensors. They had a defibrillator ready. So I was completely surrounded by a team that felt I was in trouble. I was hooked up to a heart rate monitor and my pulse had dropped to 24,” he said.
Moore’s doctors told him almost immediately that he would need a pacemaker.
“I mean, there was no lead-up to this. This was instant. I can smile now, but I had been at Starbucks maybe 30 minutes earlier and now I needed a pacemaker,” he recalled.
Moore was diagnosed with complete heart block, a condition that occurs when electrical communication between the four chambers of the heart is disrupted. Heart block is not usually accompanied by specific symptoms, but presents with variable and vague signs. The cause is difficult to determine, but can be fatal if not treated promptly.
Fortunately, Moore was fitted with a pacemaker that same day and has made a rapid recovery since then. However, Moore would like to highlight some important lessons learned from this event.
He has expressed gratitude for devices like the Apple Watch that back up serious health issues with data. Moore noted that humans tend to be stubborn when it comes to health, and that we don’t listen to our body’s signals as carefully as we should. His health scares are clear evidence of this idea; without his Apple Watch insisting he go to the hospital, Moore likely would have continued to ignore his systems, which could have led to a far more disastrous outcome.
“We don’t respond to things the way we should. If it’s not on your watch, on your phone, it doesn’t exist. It only really started when the Apple Watch pinged me and basically said, ‘Go to the hospital immediately,'” Moore said.
He also urged people to be receptive to the data provided by their health trackers.
“We have so much data that is easily accessible and can inform us about what is going on in our bodies. I think the message is: listen to the data.”
Moore’s story not only underscores how far digital health monitoring has come in recent years, but perhaps more importantly, the critical role these innovations play in preserving our wellbeing. Ultimately, Moore’s experience with an Apple Watch shows how a small, unassuming device on our wrist can become a lifeline, and proves that sometimes the most unexpected sources can make the biggest difference.
