ICE: In Case of Emergency
Mobile phone users are being urged to enter a number in their phone's memory with the acronym ICE, for In Case of Emergency, with the names and numbers of people to be contacted in case of an emergency. Many mobile phone carriers (including Verizon) have ICE functionality already set up in "Contacts". All you need to do is designate the number(s).
Using ICE, paramedics or police are able to swiftly find the number and use it to reach a relative or friend who could help identify deceased victims and treat injured ones, by providing vital personal information, including details of any medical conditions.
One of the difficulties facing emergency services personnel is how to locate next of kin for (or obtain other necessary information about) a victim who is unconscious, dead, or otherwise unable to respond to questions. Even It the victim is carrying one or more forms of identification which have remained with him (such as a driver’s license), those items don’t necessarily provide information about where and how relatives or other interested parties can be reached, resulting in delays as officials try to track those people down through ancillary details.
Over the years, this issue has been addressed through a variety of means including carrying lists of emergency contacts (and vital medical details) in their purses and wallets, or wearing items such as bracelets and necklaces with such information engraved on them.
Some drawbacks come to mind:
- The cell phone has to remain with its owner (or otherwise be identifiable as his) in order to be of use. While most wallets and purses will contain some items bearing photographs that can be matched to their owners, a cell phone doesn’t necessarily provide any direct means of identifying its owner. While any form of ID can become separated from the person bearing it, a cell phone is an object frequently carried in hand, which greatly increases the chances of its loss in an accident.
- A cell phone can be damaged to the point that information stored in (or through) it is no longer retrievable. This is also true of other forms of identification, but non-electronic devices generally survive falls or impacts that might otherwise render cell phones non-functional.
- Cell phones come in many different brands and varieties, and how to retrieve stored information may not be immediately apparent to someone trying to work with an unfamiliar type of phone. As well, many cell phone users secure their phones with PINs to prevent unauthorized use, a factor which could conceivably block any attempts by emergency personnel to retrieve information from them.
Other important factors to consider:
- ICE entries are more likely to be of use to hospital personnel than paramedics; the latter don’t generally have the time or the need to go searching for that type of information.
- ICE requires no geographically-bound system or infrastructure to be in place; it will work wherever people adopt and publicize the practice.
- ICE entries in cell phone address books should be used in addition to (not in place of) more standard forms of identification.