Diversity Professionals’ Safety Series
Who is Your “In Case of Emergency?”
Imagine you are traveling, meeting a customer, grocery shopping, flying on an airplane, attending a conference, dining with friends or at any public place and you collapse. Those around you call 911, then you are transferred to the nearest emergency room where first responders, nurses and doctors fight to save your life.
The lead nurse uses your driver’s license to identify you and calls your home phone, but you no longer have a landline. Instead, the phone rings to your mobile phone on the hospital gurney! Who can the hospital’s staff call next?
With the advent of smartphones and effective technology, many of us have made the budget-conscious decision to disconnect our Local Area Network (LAN) phones at home. In addition, with cyber security and privacy concerns, we all each keep our phones locked. This can handicap emergency personnel from contacting your immediate family.
In Case of Emergency (ICE)
ICE is a program that enables first responders, such paramedics, firefighters and police officers, as well as hospital personnel, to contact the next level of the owner of a working mobile phone to obtain Important medical or support information. The phone entry or entries are intended to supplement or complement written information in a wallet or on a marked bracelet or necklace.
The program was conceived in 2004 by Bob Brotchie, a British paramedic, and subsequently, was promoted by Brotchie from May 2005. It encourages people to enter emergency contacts in their mobile phone address book under the name “ICE,” or multiple contacts as “ICE1.”
“ICE2,” etc.
Research carried out by Vodafone showed fewer than 25 percent of people carry any details of who they would like telephoned after a serious accident, which initiated a campaign encouraging people to enter an In Case of Emergency contact in their mobile phones. The idea has taken off since the July 2005 London Bombings.
Locked Phones
For security purposes, many mobile phone owners lock their mobiles, requiring a passcode to gain access. This hinders the ability of first responders to access the ICE phone list entry.
In response many device manufacturers provided a mechanism to allow some text to be displayed on the locked screen, such as an ICE contact. For example, iPhones permit ICE information to be displayed on the “locked” screen under ‘Emergency.’
Some mobile phones require installing an application so ICE and emergency information can be displayed on the “locked” screen. For instance, the Health Application for Apple iOS devices allows users to create an “emergency card,” which shows an emergency contact and selected medical information (such as medications taken and allergies) and is accessible from the locked screen.
HOW TO SET UP ICE FOR IPHONES
• Open the Health Application on your Apple IOS.
• Create Medical ID.
• Add Emergency Contact.
• Enter Relationship to you.
• Enter DONE.
• To confirm entry, go to your Locked Screen. Click Emergency. Click Medical ID and you will see the ICE contact you entered.
HOW TO SET UP ICE FOR ANDROID/GOOGLE PHONES
• Open the Contacts application on your Android phone.
• Be sure the Contact you will select is ‘starred’ as a Favorite.
• Select GROUPS.
• Add ICE Emergency Contact.
• Enter Relationship to you.
• Enter DONE.
• From the LOCKED Screen, Emergency Responders will click ‘EMERGENCY’ to call your ICE contact.
Congratulations! You have successfully activated your ICE contact in your phone to help professional emergency responders connect with your family. Please share this information with your friends, family and loved ones, particularly teenagers who carry a cellphone and no form of identification.
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