Save ICE on your phone, it could save your life
The campaign urges everyone to save their next of kin's contact number under the name ICE so that emergency personnel will know who to call when they are assisting you at an accident scene.
Ambulance services are urging all residents to save emergency numbers on their mobile phones under a specifically recognised name to help paramedics in their daily task of assisting the injured at life threatening scenes.
The idea was devised by a British paramedic who noticed that patients being treated at accident scenes usually have mobile phones nearby, but no-one knew which of the many contacts on them to call. He thought it would be a good idea to create an internationally recognised name for contacts who could help paramedics at such scenes.
The paramedic then came up with the ICE (In Case of Emergency) number concept which would assist emergency services personnel and hospital staff to quickly locate the injured person’s next of kin by simply searching for the ICE number on the patient’s phone contact list.
Having an ICE number on your phone really could save your life, or put a loved one’s mind at rest. For more than one contact name, simply name them ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3, etc.
There are many ICE applications that can be downloaded for this purpose. The most popular on Play Store is Clusor’s ICE – in case of emergency app. It allows users to enter their personal details such as blood type, allergies, and location as well as an extensive ICE contact list.
Some cellphones, for instance the iPhone and the Blackberry, come equipped with an ICE function, but paramedics urge citizens to enter an ICE number on their contact lists, even though they don’t have a specific function for the purpose.
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