The following message was forwarded to me from someone who got it from someone at the CDC. Sounds like a good suggestion in case of any kind of emergency:
Following the disaster in London, the Ambulance Service has launched a national “In case of Emergency (ICE)” worldwide campaign.
The idea is that you store the word “ICE” in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted “In Case of Emergency”.
In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It’s so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.
Please will you also email this to all the people you know, it won’t take too many ‘forwards’ 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 ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.
It’s a great idea, store it in your phone then pass on the message to your family and friends….
You may now resume your regular blogging activities 🙂
Gives me the big brother creepy crawlies. Scan for ICE and you’ve just rounded up my whole circle.
But couldn’t they pretty much do that anyway, by going through the address book on your phone? That is why I probably won’t bother with the emergeny contact thing either – those people are already in the phone number list stored on my phone.
The problem is that the emergency response personnel either don’t know which name to call, or they don’t know if the name is appropriate. As indicated in a story on the proposal in the Washington Post (here), they might be tempted to call the number for “mom,” but mom might be 2000 miles away and have a bad heart, or Alzheimer’s disease. If mom is the right person, labeling her number as “ICE – mom” would let the paramedics or police know that’s who to call.