I.C.E.

Please take out your cell phone right now. In the "Contacts" area, please click on the appropriate button to add a new entry. Type in the letters "I.C.E." followed by the phone number of the person you would want to be called if you were unconscious. This simple entry could provide life-saving information to emergency and healthcare workers if you should be injured.

Paramedics, emergency services personnel, and first responders across the country are being trained to look for the I.C.E. designation when a patient is unable to give information and has a cell phone. If you think about this for a moment, it makes perfect sense. You may know that "Andy" is your husband or "Sarah" is your wife, but emergency personnel have no idea about your relationships with the contacts in your cell phone.

The letters I.C.E. stand for In Case of Emergency, and simply calling the number could give emergency workers valuable information about your identity and your medical history. My father, always the pragmatist, has actually put I.C.E. 1 and I.C.E. 2 in his cell phone, just in case the first person called is not immediately available.

Now, please call the number you programmed under the I.C.E. designation. Ask that person to program their phone and pass the message on to others. Everyone touched by caring for a "John Doe" patient thanks you.