In Case of Emergency or "ICE" Numbers in Your Cell Phone

Do emergency workers such as paramedics and firefighters need help with knowing who to contact if you are ever the victim of an accident? Is it a good idea to put emergency contact numbers in your cell phone and designate those numbers as "ICE" or call In Case of Emergency, so that these workers can contact those people we want to be contacted?

Recently I got one of those mass email messages from a co-worker. You know...the kind that has little jokes or inspirational messages for the day...type of thing. Typically I just delete these types of email messages because I'm usually too busy to read through them. I'm sure we all know someone in our workgroups who likes to send out these types of messages every day! In any case, I was about to delete this one too when I glanced at the body of the message. It indicated that this message was important for anyone who wanted to make sure that a loved one was immediately contacted in case something should happen to you...for instance, a car accident. Having just had a baby girl (who is now 6 months old), it made me think of my wife and how I would definitely want to make sure she was contacted immediately if anything was to happen to me. So I kept reading.

The email went on to say that a certain paramedic/firefighter had come up with a brilliant idea...we should all put emergency contact numbers into our cell phones and designate them with the identifier "ICE" to indicate "In Case of Emergency." This way, if you were to be the victim of an unfortunate accident, the first responders on the scene can easily identify who should be contacted about your situation. As I read the email, it sounded like a good idea. But I couldn't help wondering if this was one of those urban legend type of stories that get forwarded around in emails. So I did some checking.

Apparently this is not an urban legend, as some paramedics have in fact recommended having "ICE" phone numbers stored in your mobile phone. The concept is really not new. People have been advocating carrying emergency contact cards in your wallet for years. Or some have suggested wearing bracelets or necklaces engraved with contact information or even important medical information. With the proliferation of mobile phones these days, the concept has just been applied to that arena as well.

So it is probably a good idea to store such "ICE" contact numbers in your cell phone. But you should also keep in mind the following:

In order to be of use to the first responders on scene, the cell phone has to be with the accident victim. For example, if the cell phone gets separated from its owner (which could easily happen in a car accident), the emergency worker will not know who it belongs to.

Another problem with cells phones is that they can get easily damaged in an accident. Whereas a piece of paper in your wallet or a bracelet typically would not get damaged beyond usefulness, a mobile phone would...fairly easily in a severe car crash.

Technology-wise, there are so many types of cell phones these days with so many functional variations that it might be difficult for the emergency worker to figure out how to even access the cell phone's directory. And if the owner of the cell phone has a passcode to block unauthorized use, then forget it.

It is still recommended that you have "ICE" entries in your cell phone. But for these and other reasons, most emergency workers recommend that you have a non-cell phone method of identifying your emergency contacts as well.