ICE your cell phone...

...and make emergency responders' lives a little easier. You've probably gotten at least one of these emails or read about it in your newspaper. Supposedly, emergency workers were able to make notification to families of those hurt in the recent London subway bombings due to 'ICE' entries in cell phone directories. This isn't 100% accurate, but the 'ICE' concept is a very interesting idea.

'ICE' stands for 'In Case of Emergency'. The theory behind 'ICE' in your cell phone is that a person would create an entry in their cell phone number directory named 'ICE' and make the number dialed that of an emergency contact. Then, given proper publicity of the program, if the person who carried the 'ICEd' phone was incapacitated or unable to communicate with emergency responders, an emergency contact could be reached to help identify the person and assist with medical history, conditions, ETC.

There are drawbacks. There is no central agency or group mandating emergency responders to check cell phones for 'ICE' entries at this time. However, at least one area hospital is conducting education classes for local emergency medical service personnel on the benefits of 'ICE'. The initial grassroots effort appears to be gaining some traction with both the general public and the EMS community.

Some folks may not be comfortable with someone going through their cell phone's directory. However, if I was seriously injured, the first thing that they would probably do at the hospital would be to cut my clothing off. I'm thinking that preserving the privacy of my cell phone directory might not be important at that point. In any event, there has been enough publicity surrounding this effort that an 'ICE' entry in your cell phone may be of some help to you in an emergency. It certainly cannot hurt anything.

"At the end of the day, you are responsible for yourself and your own safety. We're here to help."