Comments on: Prep for Emergencies: ICE Your Cell Phone

By: William Denbie

William Denbie — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:32:40 +0000

I believe the best FREE resource internationally would be the Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) with over 15 million users in just less than 5 years. Our churches use this service nationwide in the USA, the UK and in Africa. We used NOKR during the Tsunami in Asia and post many daily concerns. I can attest that this is the premier resource and that the ICE program has many flaws that could hurt a user. Example; What if you loose your phone? What if someone gets your phone and try’s to scam the ice contact (give us a visa or MasterCard to check in your family to a hospital or please wire funds to help your family member or if the contacts give you a SS# and DOB to scam the identity) people will do very bad things in trying situations? What is in place to prevent just these few concerns?

By: Bernard Farrell

Bernard Farrell — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:30:08 +0000

I had written about the ICE technique a while ago. Since then I've seen phones with ICE functions. On my phone I actually entered an ICE1 and ICE2 number. Adding medical information to the contacts is helpful, but just getting the number is probably enough for most situations.

By: nonegiven

nonegiven — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:32:01 +0000

My husband is listed under ‘husband’ I figure that is close enough. My old phone had a notes section for each contact and I labeled one with ‘medical info’ and put in all my allergies, meds and diseases. When they transferred the contact list to the new phone it went away and there is no notes section and no way to put anything like that in there.

By: Pubsgal

Pubsgal — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:19:49 +0000

I knew about the ICE numbers, but I use the password lock on my iPhone, so that would be kind of useless. However, I have my name and alternate contact info on the image that shows when you turn on the phone and before you enter the password. I’ll definitely have to add my emergency info to this.

By: Kevin D.

Kevin D. — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:10:16 +0000

I’ve heard of this (as I work in emergency services) and personally I’ve never used it on a victim and don’t use it myself. To me, “Mom” and “Dad” are more valuable in a cell phone than ICE. With ICE you have no idea who you are calling. If it’s labeled “Mom” then you know you are calling the subject’s mother and there may be multiple numbers listed for them under that name.

In Ohio they have a very nice initiative (I wish other states would do this) where you can add emergency contact info into your BMV license record. It does not print on the record, but any law enforcement agency can access it in under 30 seconds. It’s called the Emergency Contact/Next of Kin Registry and is to be used only when a person is unable to identity themselves. You can add two people, with two phone numbers each and addresses. Police then obtain name, phone numbers, addresses, relationship, etc.

To register in Ohio go to https://www.dps.state.oh.us/netsys/netdb/ENGLISH/MMENU.asp and use your license number to login to enter additional info.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:59:17 +0000

i have an ice number. everyone in my phone is in as nicknames, except dani because she’s my ice. she knew she was my emergency contact, but she didn’t know about ice, so when she was looking through my phone for a number, she said, “ice dani xxxx? is this your to do list or your address book? are you affiliated with the mob?”

it is a little unnerving to see ICE DANI XXXX come up when she calls. but safety is safety.

By: tmana

tmana — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:54:38 +0000

My Verizon LG enV2 has an ICE function; however, you only see the word ICE if the phone is locked. On the contacts list, it is the first contact listed as “In Case of Emergency”. It expands to the names of my three contacts, plus “Personal Info”. “Personal Info” expands into three notes, which I’ve labeled “Allergies”, “Medical Conditions”, and “Medications and Supplements”.

The big issue I have is that even when the phone is locked, the ICE “Personal Info” entries can be edited or deleted. (This is a security issue.)

FWIW, I also replaced my default cellphone wallpaper with “Type 2 Diabetes” wallpaper.

By: mollyjade

mollyjade — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:24:51 +0000

I’ve had an ICE number ever since I got a cell phone three years ago. It does bother me some when it shows up as “ICE” instead of “Mom and Dad,” but that’s a tiny annoyance.

I hear so many stories about EMTs not seeing medic alert jewelry and so on, that I just try to cover as many bases as possible. I have a necklace, the cell phone info, and a card in my wallet. Not to mention the giant bag of diabetes supplies.

By: Kelly’s MedLib Musings » Prep for Emergencies: ICE Your Cell Phone

Kelly’s MedLib Musings » Prep for Emergencies: ICE Your Cell Phone — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:35:16 +0000

[...] » Prep for Emergencies: ICE Your Cell Phone – DiabetesMine: diabetes, life, health, community [...]

By: Scott Strange

Scott Strange — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:30:52 +0000

I have heard of this before, but it wasn’t an app and was slightly different. Instead of ICE, it was 1CE, putting the numeral one at the beginning made it pop to the top of your contact list.

I hadn’t thought of putting additional medical info on the contact itself, that is a great idea!