Cambridge Emergency Management Department

    "ICE" your cellphone for emergencies!!

No, we are not suggesting you keep your cellphone cool in a bowl of ice, We are suggesting you make sure you can get help In Case of Emergency.

In April of 2005 Bob Brotchie, a Paramedic with the East Anglian Ambulance Service, who  is based in Cambridge, England came up with a way to contact families of patients who could not provide the information themselves.  The simple technique started in May, 2005 in the UK but has become very popular since the July 7, 2005 and July 21, 2005 bombings in London.

The majority of people now carry cellphones and most phones have "contacts" or "phonebook" features.  Most people have entries such as "Brian", "Gillian", "Jack", "Home" or "Mum".  These entries don't really help a paramedic or other emergency worker know who to call to notify them about the patient or learn if the patient has medical problems or allergies.

The ICE program is a simple solution to this problem.  There is no simpler way of letting the emergency services know who to contact should you be involved in an accident than by using ICE.

• Standing for In Case of Emergency, ICE will allow ambulance crews and police officers to quickly contact a nominated person who can be informed of the incident.
• Type the acronym ICE followed by a contact name (for example, ICE - Mum or ICE - David) into the address book of your mobile phone
• Save their phone number
• Tell your ICE contact that you have nominated them and make sure they know who you would want notified in an emergency
• Make sure the ICE contacts are easy to contact.  For example, a home number would not be helpful for someone who works full time and an office number could be useless on a weekend.
• Make sure your ICE contacts know about your medical conditions such as allergies or medications
• If you are under 18, make sure a parent or close relative is listed as a contact in case permission is needed for life or death surgery.
• Remember it is OK to list a contact more than once, such as "ICE-Wife Cell" and "ICE - Wife Work"

When you have figured out your ICE contacts it would be a good idea to write down the same numbers on  card and keep it in your wallet in case your Cellphone is lost or damaged.   Also remember, if you lock your phone with a PIN it will do you no good to enter ICE contacts.

If you want to download a .pdf file that will print a sheet of ICE contact cards click here

If you want to see the ICE page from England click here

If you want to look at the East Anglian Ambulance webpage from Cambridge, England click here

To go to the Cambridge Emergency Management Department page click here

This page updated August 3, 2005