We all know that when a person needs help or is in auto accident, we immediately know how to call 9-1-1.  What happens if you are rendered incapcitated, unable to relay the most important information to rescuers who to contact during your most vulnerable time?  Or if, you had a terrible accident and you died from your accident and those who came to your rescue were unable to contact your loved ones to let them know what happened?

Here is Wikipedia’s definition of the acronymn “ICE”:

In case of emergency (ICE) is a program that enables first responders, such as paramedics,  firefighters, and police officers, as well as hospital personnel, to contact the next of kin of the owner of a mobile phone to obtain important medical or support information (the phone must be unlocked and working). The phone entry (or entries) should supplement or complement written (such as wallet, bracelet, or necklace) information or indicators. The programme was conceived in the mid-2000s and promoted by British paramedic Bob Brotchie in May 2005.[1] It encourages people to enter emergency contacts in their mobile phone address book under the name “ICE”. Alternatively, a person can list multiple emergency contacts as “ICE1”, “ICE2”, etc. The popularity of the program has spread across Europe and Australia, and it has started to grow into North America.[2]

For security purposes, many mobile phone owners now lock their mobiles, requiring a passcode to be entered in order to access the device. This hinders the ability of first responders to access the ICE phone list entry. In response to this problem, many device manufacturers have provided a mechanism to specify some text to be displayed while the mobile is in the locked state. The owner of the phone can specify their “In Case of Emergency” contact and also a “Lost and Found” contact. For example, BlackBerry mobiles permit the “Owner” information to be set in the Settings → Options → Owner menu item.

Alternatively, some handsets provide access to a list of ICE contacts directly from the “locked” screen.

Here is a good webiste for those who may be traveling outside of your residence or country:

If you travel out of your own country –  you might wish to consider how first responders will contact your next of kin or emergency contacts on your behalf if you are unable to do so.

You will need to prepare ahead of time by updating your emergency phone numbers with the proper sequence of Direct Dialing Numbers, Country Codes and Area Codes.

Phone Sticker Gen 2

You should also do this for your ICE Contact Cards and MedInfo Forms since they are easy to change, free and can be done without 3rd party intervention.

When you arrive in that country you should place a call using these numbers to make sure they work properly.

If your contacts are listed using the non-language dependent E.123 Method they should be first up in the list – always.

For example, if you were calling ICE4SAFETY from the United Kingdom you would use this series of numbers:

00   –  1  –  315  –  307.2281

00 = the IDD or the International Direct Dialing Number (for example: to place call from the USA to another country, you would input code 011)

1 = Country Code for the United States, Canada and Caribbean/Guam.

315 = Area Code for Central New York Region of NY State

307.2281 = VoIP Phone number for ICE4SAFETY

Some numbers are longer and some change periodically due to population shifts and changing countries so check to make sure your numbers are in fact current.

No reason you cannot maintain these numbers on your phone memory to copy and paste in when you travel and vice versa for when in your home country. Same with ICECards.

Also if travelling be sure to include the phone number for your country’s embassy or consulate.  Notify your credit card company you will be travelling and list their 24hr number as well.  Make sure they can contact you by providing your cell phone number and an emergency contact number as back up.

Of course don’t forget to place an ICE Sticker on your phone.

To obtain country code lists and direct dialing numbers for the countries you wish to visit visit CountryCode.org

 Sources:  Wikipedia.com / ice4safety.com

Please share this information with your friends, family, co-workers and anyone whom you can think of. This may one day be of benefit to them. I know having this information is like having a peace of mind.

Staff Writer – Lisa Swenson

Contact Info – nwfireblog@yahoo.com – facebook NW Fire Blog, Twitter – @nwfireblog.