So, should you really have an entry under "ICE" in your cell phone so that paramedics "In Case of Emergency" can contact the right party?

East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston and in association with Vodafone's annual life savers award. The idea is that you store the word " I C E " 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 forward this to everybody in your address book, it won't take too many 'forwards' before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life. For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.

Well, yes and no.

1. Paramedics aren't likely to do it, given the time crunch they are under. Hospital workers, especially in the ER, are more likely.

2. You should carry conventional "in case of emergency" ID info, too, e.g., in your wallet, as that's where folks will look first -- and know how to look (vs. navagating the strange menu of a cell phone).

3. The campaign is actually a legitimate one.

4. Contrary to other Internet rumors, there's no "cell phone virus" danger from creating an ICE entry.

The way I figure it, it's trivial to do and might be useful -- but shouldn't be considered a panacea. So why not do it as a part of my emergency information?

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Quoth ***Dave ...

As noted in the trackbacks, the Drunken Lagomorph disagrees with the value of the whole ICE thing. I can't argue with her assertions (which basically boil down to "EMTs have no time to screw around with your cell phone and you should have this info in your wallet anyway" -- points 1-2 above), and to the extent that folks will do this instead of carrying a wallet card, etc., it might well be a bad idea.

That said, it beats (barely) doing nothing, and, as part of this complete breakfast, might have some value. And to the extent that it gets people actually thinking about emergency contact information, it's of some benefit.

Still ...