ICE on your mobile

tc20

Hey all, got an email from my beloved today in regard to this. She received it from Safety Office of NUIG...not being morbid or anything, but it makes sense...

Its an idea for all mobile phone users to ensure that your "next of kin" can be quickly contacted in the event of accident/emergency. All you need do is store the numbers of family members/friends who should be contacted in the event of emergency as "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) on your phone.
The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when they went to accident scenes, there was nearly always a mobile with patients/victims, BUT they didnt know who to call. He came up with the idea of a nationally recognised name - "In Case of Emergency (ICE)"
In such a situation, emergency services personnel & hospital staff would then be able to quickly contact your next of kin, by simply dialling the number stored as "ICE". The concept is becoming more widely known. For more than one contact name, just use ICE1, ICE2 etc.

Seems a good idea, anyone else here come across this?

digitally-yours

i think its been posted here before too

I have definately read it before

i dont have ICE saved in my phone !

May be i should ! its debatable

Ruu_Old

Bumped this over from After Hours.
I have heard of ICE before and saw this story when googling.

"The scheme started in East Anglia but can go anywhere and is not restricted to one mobile phone network.

"It is a case of helping people in distress and getting the best and most correct information about a patient, and the best use out of a mobile phone."

The Welsh Assembly Government believes the scheme could help at a time when "every second counts".

Deputy Health Minister John Griffiths said: "Spending time trying to contact the next of kin can delay the start of treatment.

"If everyone follows this advice and puts an Ice number into their mobile phones any such problems can be overcome."

Phone company Vodaphone and the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust recently quashed rumours that Ice was a hoax .

A prank e-mail had claimed that entering the acronym would unleash a virus that drained pay-as-you-go phones of credit.

Both organisations have asked customers to ignore the scam which they branded "malicious".

Pythia

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

watsgone

I have heard it a year or two ago. Its a good idea, i do it and many I know do also.

Jam Man

This was emailed around all over the place after the London bombings wasn't it?

tc20

first i heard of it was when i got the email from herself the other day. My wife works in the construction industry, so would have some dealings with H&S boards etc, hence the originator in her case being the safety office of NUIG. I've added it to my phone.

Mitch Connor

it is a very good idea - but do the emergency services over here actually look for it?

event

i would have thought the numbers they would look for would be

-home
-mam
-dad

surely everyone has one of these in their contacts list?

watsgone

But perhaps you would want to contact your partner.
Not may people keep their own halfs saved under partner.

Some people are would rather not have their parents have consent to medical treatment for them, they may have a friend, a guardian etc.

It justs cuts out confusion

Random

The problem is .. say the person you want them to contact is "John Doe". You have his number stored under "John Doe".

When you add that same number under "ICE" it will confuse the phone. On some phones their number will only come up as ICE for incoming calls and texts, on others it just won't show their name and will only show their number - because it's too confusing for the phone to work from both.

watsgone

Not sure about phones, nokia (mine) I can store the the same number twice no problem, the only different with regards to incoming calls is that just the number appears up eg 087XXXXXX
same with the sony ecrisson (my old phone)

Random

watsgone wrote:

with regards to incoming calls is that just the number appears up eg 087XXXXXX

This is what I mean. It's annoying.

j14

I have ICE stored in my phone and have told my mate about it, he's a firefighter, he thinks it's a great idea. As was said above "every second counts".

timmywex

Tauren wrote:

it is a very good idea - but do the emergency services over here actually look for it?

yes, please put this in your phone so your family.loved ones can be immediately contacted