ICE: In Case of Emergency

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Written on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 by Jessica

Received this in an email today. I thought this was such a great idea that I even went so far as to spam my blog friends. Only afterward did I think, "Doh! They already read my blog. I should've posted it there."

So sorry for spamming you, my blog friends. It won't happen again.

A recent (?) article from the Toronto Star, "the ICE idea", is catching on and it is a very simple, yet important method of contact for you or a loved one in case of an emergency. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is program the number of a contact person or persons and store the name as "ICE".

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when they went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which numbers to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name to file "next of kin" under.

Following a disaster in London, The East Anglican Ambulance Service has launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign. The idea is that you store the word "ICE " in your mobile phone address book, and with it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency". In an emergency situation, Emergency Services personnel and hospital staff would then be able to quickly contact your next of kin, by simply dialing the number programmed under "ICE".

Please forward this to everybody in your address book. It won't take too many "forwa rds" before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest. For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.
My thoughts would be for more than one contact: ICE Wife, ICE Husband, ICE Son, ICE Daughter, ICE Brother, ICE Sister etc. At least the medic has some idea to whom he/she is speaking.

What about ICE Doctor? I ran this idea through GEMS Greenwich Emergency Medical Service and their response was: "ICE has been used and is highly supported by the hospital teams as well as ours. I like the idea of multiple contacts as you have done, and will pass it on" A great idea that will make a difference! Now go out and program your phones.
Remember, you should not use an ICE entry in your cell phone to replace emergency information that you should keep with your photo ID. This method simply provides hospital personnel with another way to contact your next of kin. You can read more about it here:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/icephone.asp

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4 Comments

  1. Jennifer |

    those canadians - always thinking. :)

     
  2. Jessica |

    They have to stay on their toes. Otherwise the U.S. would invade the southern part of the country. You know, just for fun.

     
  3. Unknown |

    I have been trying to post a comment on here for days but blogger wouldn't let me post on your site for some reason (it let me into others) Weird.

    Anyway, I think this is a great idea. I have found many a lost cellphone and picked them up, searching through their contacts for ways to let the person know where it was. I looked for "mom" "dad" etc or someone with an exclamation point by their name. So many people don't have "home" on their contacts list. I do simply because I have teenagers and want a shortcut to call them when I need to.

    I like this idea and hope people do it for many reasons.

     
  4. Valerie |

    It's a great Idea. I have seen it before, but sadly didn't follow the instruction. I have now!

     

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