I.C.E. on your cell phone

I received an email a few minutes ago with that same title: I.C.E. on your cell phone. It doesn't have anything to do with the current weather outside though.

I.C.E. stands for In Case of Emergency. It is standard procedure for all paramedics to check your cell phone for an I.C.E. message in cases of accidents or emergencies. I was already aware of this but by the way the email was worded I realized some people were NOT aware of it.

I placed the 'Contact' in my phone over a year ago after I had a heart attack. If you are unable to respond to paramedics because of an auto accident or, as in my case, a physical emergency, the I.C.E. message let's them know all about you.

I have mine in my contacts as I said. I named it: ...IN CASE OF EMERGENCY. Notice the dots in front of it? That's so it's the FIRST contact on my list. No need to go searching for my I.C.E. message. It's right at the top. Luckily my heart attack was minor but it could have been worse; I could have been unresponsive. I have over 100 phone numbers in my phone and I just couldn't live with the idea of someone trying to figure out who to call if I was in trouble.

I have the phone number set as 911. Just in case again. Maybe a friend found me and was trying to figure out who to call to help me. Maybe they were too panicked to remember 911. It could happen. I've been that upset before.

My cell allows me to add notes to my contact details. I wrote the following:

Contact Tim Brakhage @ ***-***-**** (you didn't think I was going to publish his phone number here did you? Not a good idea.). I have a heart condition, allergic to penicillin and sulfa drugs and have Graves Disease.

There are actually many other things I could have added to that note, but I thought those were the most important things to convey in the event of an emergency.

Do you have an I.C.E. message on your cell phone? Did you know paramedics automatically checked cell phones for an I.C.E. message? I think it's a smart thing to do and I think it's smart of paramedics to implement it into their life saving job.

In the event that you don't have a cell phone (And just where have you been?), you should have some sort of I.C.E. message somewhere on your person (in your wallet, in a notebook, in your shoe...it doesn't matter where; just somewhere). Even if you don't have any medical situations to report, allergies or special care needs I think it would be a good idea to have some important phone numbers noted somewhere. Who do you want them to call if something happens to you?

Better safe than sorry I always say.

(Thank you Vickie for forwarding the email to me.)