Our Ask An Angel correspondent is Arlene Petersen, Certified Senior Advisor and Life Care Navigation Specialist in the area of senior homecare.
Q: I decided to get a cell phone. My friends tell me to enter my emergency information in the phone and to label it ICE. What exactly is ICE?
A: ICE is an acronym that means âIn Case of Emergency.â The concept was originated by a Cambridge, England, paramedic for cell phone use. Essentially, itâs a way for emergency responders to contact your family or friends in case of an emergency. The ICE entry in your cell phone directs emergency personnel. They know exactly what to do with the information.
Your part involves entering the proper information. Your emergency contact needs to be entered as an ICE contact. A sample of how that would look is ICE: name of family member, and then their phone number along with it. In an emergency situation, ambulance or hospital personnel would be able to check your cell phone and would contact the ICE contact entered in your phone quickly. Itâs that simple. If you have more than one emergency contact, you can label them ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, etc. Itâs important to make sure your emergency contact has given you permission to list them in your cell phone. Here are some important things to have in place:
Make sure your emergency contact has a list of who to phone on your behalf. Make sure you provide cell phone numbers along with home and work numbers.
Make it easy, and include the most reliable number where your contact can be reached. In other words, if someone on your list canât be reached at home during the day, make sure you provide an alternate number.
Make sure your ICE contact knows of your medical conditions. This is very important, especially if you have allergies to medications.
You can include your contactâs name after the ICE entry. For example, ICE: Richard. It makes it easier for emergency professionals.
If you would like a brochure that talks about ICE, call me at 847-429-0100. I will be happy to mail out detailed information to you.
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