ICE (In Case of Emergency)

Basq

Got this in an e-mail this morning being forwarded around.. quite a good idea!!

Following the disaster in London...

East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In Case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston.

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 email 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, or put a loved one's mind at rest.

For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.

segadreamcast

I read about this on BBC online a few days ago... Quite a good idea really, considering mobile phones are the one thing that virtually everybody has these days.

Trojan

It's already in my phone book, called "Home". I think pretty much everyone I know has this already.

I've never heard of ICE being used for "In Case of Emergency", I believe it's more commonly known to stand for "In-Car Entertainment".

More investigation - seems genuine:

A Cambridge-based paramedic has launched a national campaign with Vodafone to encourage people to store emergency contact details in their mobile phones.

Bob Brotchie, a clinical team leader for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust, hatched the plan last year after struggling to get contact details from shocked or injured patients.

By entering the acronym ICE – for In Case of Emergency – into the mobile’s phone book, users can log the name and number of someone who should be contacted in an emergency.

The idea follows research carried out by Vodafone that shows more than 75 per cent of people carry no details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident.

Bob, 41, who has been a paramedic for 13 years, said: “I was reflecting on some of the calls I’ve attended at the roadside where I had to look through the mobile phone contacts struggling for information on a shocked or injured person.

“It’s difficult to know who to call. Someone might have “mum” in their phone book but that doesn’t mean they’d want them contacted in an emergency.

“Almost everyone carries a mobile phone now, and with ICE we’d know immediately who to contact and what number to ring. The person may even know of their medical history.”

The campaign was launched this week by Bob and Falklands war hero Simon Weston in association with Vodafone’s annual Life Savers Awards.

Vodafone spokesperson Ally Stevens said: “The Life Savers Awards already demonstrate, through practical example, the important role a mobile phone can play when minutes matter in an emergency.

“By adopting the ICE advice, your mobile will now also help the rescue services quickly contact a friend or relative – which could be vital in a life or death situation.”

The campaign is also asking people to think carefully about who will be their ICE partner - with helpful advice on who to choose - particularly if that person has to give consent for emergency medical treatment.

Bob hopes that all emergency services will promote ICE in their area as part of a national awareness campaign to highlight the importance of carrying next of kin details at all times.

He said the idea was for the benefit of loved ones as well as the patient.

“Research suggests people recover quicker from the psychological effects of their loved one being hurt if they are involved at an earlier stage and they can reach them quickly," he added.

He said he hoped mobile phone companies would now build the ICE contact into future models, adding: "It's not a difficult thing to do. As many people say they carry mobile phones in case of an emergency, it seems natural this information should be kept there."

rubadub

Good idea. I have "home" and "me" on mine, more in the case if it is lost, never thought of accidents.

qz

That's a great idea. Wonder if the Gardaí are in on it too?

Trojan

Give them a decade or 2 and they'll be right on the case.

whiskeyman

yup - great idea, only highlighted after the events of last week.
No word if emergency services here will take it up officially.

JackKelly

Thats a smart idea. But what if your phone is smashed for whatever cause. Not much use than.

joejoem

Trojan wrote:

Give them a decade or 2 and they'll be right on the case.

Ah come on now, be fair! 10 years at least.

Peteee

Surely 'Home' does the same thing? It's a good idea, but most people I know have home in their mobiles.

BossArky

"Home" in your phone is not much good if like me you live in London, and home is the number back in Ireland. Also "home London" is not much good if my girlfriend is out working... i.e. she won't be at home.

ICE is a good idea.... but to someone who dosen't know what it means it is not too obvious.

whiskeyman

BossArky wrote:

ICE is a good idea.... but to someone who dosen't know what it means it is not too obvious.

A simple marketing plan will work to spread awareness.
The Emergency teams will be aware and will ask the public to support it.
And (as we see here) a great idea will usually spread by word of mouth.

rubadub

joejoem wrote:

Ah come on now, be fair! 10 years at least.

Garda Mucksavage Magee: "so they have portable versions of those new fangled telephony machines nowadays, bejasus I never thought those apparatuses would take off, next they'll have colourised versions of those televisual screen yoke-a-ma-jigs."

LegacyUser

Sounds like a great idea, especially seeing as how my house number is stored under St Brendan's in the mobile!

AdMMM

Actually a very good idea!

Whoever said it wouldnt be of much use if it was smashed, thats just nitpicking! Having a simple system like this is better than nothing and could safe precious time in an emergency situation!

Kingsize

good idea although when the new anti terror laws get passed they'll be able to identify you by your phone number/biometric ID anyway....
coming sooner than you think

Lump

I have "Mammy", "Daddy" and "Home" in my phone.... I think the Cops could work it out. Dumb Idea if you ask me....


John

0utshined

Lump wrote:

I have "Mammy", "Daddy" and "Home" in my phone.... I think the Cops could work it out. Dumb Idea if you ask me....


John

Did you miss this bit?

“It’s difficult to know who to call. Someone might have “mum” in their phone book but that doesn’t mean they’d want them contacted in an emergency.

WexCan

Great idea. It's on my phone and now it's on my speed dial in work.

Bard

ICE? Pfft. I'd put in "In Case of Emergency" in it's entirety.

WhiteWashMan

good for you bard.

good for you.

its a big thing in the UK at the moment. I have received about 7 or 8 mails from different people with pretty much the same thing, asking for ICE to be entered into a phone in the event of an emergency.
as far as im aware there are still issues with privacy on a phone, and people are not just allowed to route through your belongings.
they will however, be able to contact someone under an ICE number, as you have dedicated that number to an emergency.
a name of Mammy or daddy (how cute are you Lump?) is still considered to be private, and as someone said, they are not neccesarily your emergency contact number.

especailly if they live in new zealand. not much help to you there.

Blitzkrieger

WhiteWashMan wrote:

a name of Mammy or daddy (how cute are you Lump?) .

He's an ickle wickle fuzzy wuzzy cutie wutie, so he is!

Damn - where'd I leave those testicles?

danniemcq

rubadub wrote:

Good idea. I have "home" and "me" on mine, more in the case if it is lost, never thought of accidents.

why the hell do you have "me" (or is that you....) on your phone??? do you ring yourself much???

robinph

danniemcq wrote:

why the hell do you have "me" (or is that you....) on your phone??? do you ring yourself much???

I do actually send myself text messages* and sometimes forget what my number is when the messages come in so maybe I should add 'ME' to my phone book as well. :rolleyes:





* It's not actually me sending the texts its my pc in work letting me know if anythings fecked up using the free web texts thing.

danniemcq

robinph wrote:

I do actually send myself text messages* and sometimes forget what my number is when the messages come in so maybe I should add 'ME' to my phone book as well.

ok how the hell can you not remember your number??? is this common?

robinph

danniemcq wrote:

ok how the hell can you not remember your number??? is this common?

Combination of not paying attention/ being half asleep/ I don't actually ever dial my own number.

But generally just due to being a bit thick.

danniemcq

robinph wrote:

But generally just due to being a bit thick.

at least your honest about it!

Bard

danniemcq wrote:

ok how the hell can you not remember your number??? is this common?

In the store I work in, we use customers phone numbers as their customer ID in our database, so it's the first thing we ask for when doing up an invoice. You'd be surprised what a high proportion of them have to go to their phonebook in their mobile to find out what their own phone number is.

So... yes, it's quite common.

b3t4

TimAy wrote:

But what if your phone is smashed for whatever cause. Not much use than.

Saving the number to your SIM card instead of phone maybe. As long as SIM is intact <edit>and you've no pin</edit> they will be able to get the number.

A.

Lump

I am a cutie alright....

John

Lex_Diamonds

This ICE thing just reinforces the fear and paranoia amongst people. Ignore this ****ty email if you get it.

And if you get blown to bits I dont much care who has my number, if I live I can contact people myself.

JackKelly

It shouldn't be specific to terrorist incidents. It could easily work in everyday life. If you were hit by a car, etc. Unconscious etc. In hospital.

tbh, it seems like it would have been a good idea when mobiles were released. A bit late now.

shellby

i fainted in a shopping centre a while back and they used my phone to call my dad he rang my mam and she panicked i would have preferred for my boyfriend to be called so that he could explain to them what had happened and keep them calm, mammy and daddy will always panic if they hear something like
it's better that someone who knows how to talk to them tells them
so inconclusion i think it's a great idea

squrm

I'm not so sure because on my (quite ancient) phone if you have the same number in twice for 2 different names (i.e home & ICE) it gets confused when that person rings & just displays *no number*

Which mightn't be too good if your screening calls on a Friday night whilst out on the beer

But apart from that its not a bad idea

Funk Daddy

There's no point in having something stupid like "home" or "me" or "gaff" or "Mammy" - it's not consistant.

The only problem with putting an 'ICE' number in my phone is that I already have the same number under a different name, and now when I get a text from my GF, her name doesn't come up anymore - just the number.

Suaimhneach

I havent read the whole thread, cuz I'm not bothered to.

This is a load of ****e. It's being sponsered by Vodafone and is basically just another tool for controlling the masses with the fear they created themselves.

ICE is otherwise known as Next Of Kin, who is also the person you contact during an emergency. Mam/Home will suffice as well.

You wont be able to contact your ICE if there is an emergency, because they shut down all networks anyway.

Don't fall for their ****e. Have Home/Mam/Dad/Missus whatever.

It'll do no harm to have ICE, but be aware of what it is.

Femelade

delighted for you, Bard

shuushh

something about this thread is just very irritating

quite a good idea though although most people have home in their phone anyway

0utshined

Jesjes wrote:

I havent read the whole thread, cuz I'm not bothered to.
...
You wont be able to contact your ICE if there is an emergency, because they shut down all networks anyway.
...
Don't fall for their ****e. Have Home/Mam/Dad/Missus whatever.

Maybe you should Jesjes?

The point I got from the article was not that it was for use only if there is a major emergency but rather if YOU were ever in an a situation where your next-of-kin needed to be contacted and you couldn't contact them.

Fair enough a lot of people will have Mam/Dad/whatever in there phone but that doesn't mean they want that person contacted if they're in trouble.

Bard

Femmy wrote:

delighted for you, Bard

You're delighted for me?

Eh, thanks.

Why?

Funk Daddy

Jesjes wrote:

I havent read the whole thread, cuz I'm not bothered to.

This is a load of ****e. It's being sponsered by Vodafone and is basically just another tool for controlling the masses with the fear they created themselves.

ICE is otherwise known as Next Of Kin, who is also the person you contact during an emergency. Mam/Home will suffice as well.

You wont be able to contact your ICE if there is an emergency, because they shut down all networks anyway.

Don't fall for their ****e. Have Home/Mam/Dad/Missus whatever.

It'll do no harm to have ICE, but be aware of what it is.

You're a mong who has completely missed the point.

Bard

Funk Daddy wrote:

You're a mong who has completely missed the point.

Funk Daddy - you're here less than a month and have made only 10 posts (at my time of writing). I'd suggest you not waste those posts by using them purely to unconstructively insult somebody, calling them a "mong" as you did. In the long run, that's the kind of thing that will only end up geting you banned from forums on this site.

As I said, just a suggestion, take it or leave it.

herobear

*suddenly breaks out humming ICE, ICE, baby by Vanilla Ice*

argh!

Wez

TimAy wrote:

Thats a smart idea. But what if your phone is smashed for whatever cause. Not much use than.

You're just looking for an excuse to disagree! How much hassle is it to add a number to your phone? For the hassle it takes to put it in, it's well worth doing it!

Guh! Some people!

segadreamcast

0utshined wrote:

Maybe you should Jesjes?

The point I got from the article was not that it was for use only if there is a major emergency but rather if YOU were ever in an a situation where your next-of-kin needed to be contacted and you couldn't contact them.

Fair enough a lot of people will have Mam/Dad/whatever in there phone but that doesn't mean they want that person contacted if they're in trouble.

Yeah, exactly...

This is nothing to do with paranoia at all - it's just a simple system which allows your closest person (i.e. girlfriend/boyfriend/mum/dad) to be contacted in any scenario where you may be incapable of contacting them yourself.

It isn't some kind of media ploy or Big Brother type scenario - it's just a simple intuitive system...some people really need to stop being so paranoid and raging against a machine that doesn't really exist...

MadPatrick

TimAy wrote:

Thats a smart idea. But what if your phone is smashed for whatever cause. Not much use than.

Indeed, but what if your phone isn't smashed??

iguana

squrm wrote:

I'm not so sure because on my (quite ancient) phone if you have the same number in twice for 2 different names (i.e home & ICE) it gets confused when that person rings & just displays *no number*

I think that every phone I've ever had apart from my first one, that I got 7ish years ago has this problem. I don't think it's a problem with old phones anymore so than new ones. It just depends on the design.

You could always put both ICE and the name in the same entry if you wanted to have this on your phone.

I would think though that if I had to ring for the next of kin of someone who couldn't tell me who to call I would just hit their number 1 or 2 speed-dial. Chances are that that is the person they would most want.

tman

heh. i doubt that I.C.E. recruitment will be much use to me in the case of an emergency...
better change that number

pickarooney

It's a bit confusing, as I already use ICE for the number of the guy who delivers the rocks for my Bailey's.
I suggest everyone use Next Of Kin In Accident.

Actually, if I were in an accident I'd prefer someone to call a doctor.