In Case of Emergency

Hi, All! I saw a couple of articles in the newspaper recently about this concept and I just went to their website. I think it's an excellent idea and that's why I'm sharing it with you. It was started by a paramedic in England and now it's being adopted by communities in the United Kingdom, Australia and the U.S. Here's part of what their website says: Eight out of 10 British people carry no next of kin details. Yet 80% carry a mobile phone, most of whom have it on them all the time. There is no simpler way of letting the emergency services know who to contact should you be involved in an accident than by using ICE. Standing for In Case of Emergency, ICE will allow ambulance crews and police officers to quickly contact a nominated person who can be informed of the incident. Type the acronym ICE followed by a contact name (for example, ICE - mum or ICE - David) into the address book of your mobile phone. Save their phone number. Tell your ICE contact that you have nominated them. Debby

Debby: I've been seeing the ICE concept all over the press the last couple of weeks. We've all had cell phones for so long, why did it take so long to come up with such a seemingly simple concept? My only addendum to the idea is to make sure you have more than ONE ICE-contact. My first choice is my husband, but if he and I are hurt in the same incident, there'd be no back up "go-to" person.

Hi, Bette! Thank you for your addendum. I hadn't thought about the possibility of being hurt along with my contact person. I've now added another ICE contact. Debby

Hey Deb, Thats great to know. We have a program here at my office for seniors called TRIAD. Its the yellow dot program in where the senior fills out an emergency card with all their personal and medical information. They put it in their glove compartment with a yellow dot sticker on the door. Then on their rear window a window cling with TRIAD is placed so the emergency vehicles know there is information on them. I wish they had a program like this all over the country for everyone and not just the senior poplulation. Its a great help for the police, fire and EMS staff to know your medical information and in case of emergency contacts. Thanks for this information, as always your very resourceful with information for us. Thanks KimC

Yes, I've been seeing this too. It's a great idea, I'm not quite sure why we never came up with this idea before! What i did when this idea came through to me via email is add a contact name in my address book called ICE: in case of emergency. I then added in the notes field my medic alert of Gastric Bypass Patient and the full name and relationship (and multiple phone numbers) of my ICE contact. I never thought of adding a 2nd person in the ICE field tho, just in case. I think that's a great idea!