No matter whether traveling or just at home, we hope we’ll never need an “in case of emergency†contact. But things happen and in the last few months following our car accident, we’ve had more and more questions about what to do in such situations when abroad. We’ll bring you a whole post dedicated to driving abroad and tips for what to do when you break down or are in an accident abroad soon, but as Americans head in to one of the busiest road trip weekends in the US I thought I’d share an important tip. Have you heard of the ICE In Case of Emergency campaign?
The ICE campaign, short for in case of emergency, was started by British paramedic Bob Brotchie in 2005 after he’d tended to too many patients with serious injuries or in shock who could not provide details of who the paramedics should contact following their accident. Vodafone, a big mobile carrier throughout Europe, also conducted a study and incredibly findings showed that more than 75% of people carry no details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident.
Until two months ago when we were in a car accident that left our car totaled and I had to go to the emergency room in an ambulance, I hadn’t thought about carrying in case of emergency contact details either. Luckily, Tim was with me at the time of the accident and was mostly fine. But what if he hadn’t been and I’d be injured more seriously and incoherent?
By entering the acronym ICE â€" for In Case of Emergency â€" into your mobile phone’s contact list, paramedics or emergency responders can easily locate the name and number of someone who should be contacted in an emergency. If you have more than one contact name you can use ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, and so on.
The ICE In Case of Emergency campaign is now known around the world and the acronym is effective in many countries where you travel. Even if you aren’t driving, things can still happen no matter whether you’re traveling or at home and it can save you and your family a lot of grief to simply enter your ICE contacts into your mobile phone.
For security purposes, many mobile phone owners now lock their mobiles, requiring a password or pin code to be entered in order to access your device. This hinders the ability of emergency responders to access your ICE phone list entry. You can get around this and many device manufacturers have provided a mechanism to specify some text to be displayed while the mobile is in the locked state. The owner of the phone can specify their “In Case of Emergency†contact and also a “Lost and Found†contact. For iPhone, you can download the ICE Standard [1] app (free) that displays your information on your locked screen. Another free option is to add your ICE information to your wallpa per, which will display when the button is tapped. One important tip: Make sure to place the text somewhere it won’t be obscured by the time, date, slide-to-unlock bar, or any other lock-screen elements. I’d also recommend a back up plan like putting a slip of paper with your ICE contacts in your wallet or handbag just in case your mobile phone dies or is lost.
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