SONS USE WEB CAM TO SAVE MOM ACROSS GLOBE

Nov 18, 12:59 PM (ET)


OSLO, Norway (AP) - A Web camera made it possible for two men to get help for their mother after she collapsed at her home, even though she was thousands of miles away.

Karin Jordal, a 69-year-old Norwegian artist living in Pinon Hills, Calif., collapsed in her living room Thursday. The woman, who is diabetic, lay motionless on a couch when her son Tore, who was in the Philippines, saw her through her Web cam.

Tore had initially tried to call her and got no answer, then tried emergency authorities in California but couldn't get through, said Tore's brother Ole Jordal, who lives in the western Norwegian city of Bergen.

Tore then phoned Ole, just as Ole and his wife Tammy were having breakfast. Tammy, an American who's originally from Long Island, N.Y., knew just whom to call, Ole said.

"It took five or 10 minutes for the ambulance personnel to arrive," he said Friday.

Ole Jordal said the family was on the verge of tears when they watched on the Web camera as ambulance personnel assisted their diabetic mother, who is recovering at Desert Valley Hospital in California.

"I thank that camera and my sons for my life," Karin Jordal told the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende by telephone from her hospital bed. She has lived in the United States and Spain on and off for the past 15 years.

Ole Jordal said low blood sugar caused his mother's collapse, and that she would stay in the hospital for a few days before going home. Ole said the family had set up Web cameras in their homes because of the high cost of staying in touch by telephone.

"But now I see the Internet as a way to save lives. It's also a wonderful tool for people who live alone in some remote area, and might need help," he said.

The mother had been unconscious for about two hours before her sons checked in, so there was also an element of luck, since they only use the camera a few times a week.