Cell Phone Directory - ICE (In Case of Emergency)Six months ago I was riding home on a major interstate from visiting family. It had snowed earlier in the day but the weather and roads seemed fine. Then suddenly there were huge chunks of snow in my lane and I was not able to change lanes in time. The car hit the snow and spun out, hit the snow bank and flipped twice before landing in the three feet of snow in the median. I was hurt pretty bad and unable to communicate when the paramedics arrived. They had the challenge of first finding my cell phone in the car when everything was toss about, and second to figure out who they should call in my contact list.
There has been a lot of controversy lately regarding how to identify contacts in your cell phone directory. Personal safety is pit against personal convenience. There are two points of view which will be explored below.
One point of view focuses on the ability of emergency personnel to easily contact your next of kin when you are unable to communicate who to call. According to this way of thinking, your cell phone directory should not use names, but rather relationships. Use titles such as husband, wife, son, daughter, mom, etc. This lets anyone know who everyone is in your cell phone directory. Do not use nicknames that a stranger would not understand. “Hubby” is fairly self explanatory, whereas “Pooky” could be a significant other, a child, or even a pet.
The second school of thought is based on every contact being listed by their name. E-mails have been forwarded telling stories of terror when a cell phone is stolen and back accounts wiped out when the thief texts “wife” asking what the pin number is for the bank account. The story goes a woman’s purse is stolen containing her ATM card and her cell phone. The thief texts “hubby” asking what the pin number is for the account and then empties the account. By the time the woman contacts her husband to tell him of what has occurred, it is too late. This story has many lessons to be learned: verify when someone texts you asking financial information, don't give out personal or financial information via text message, keep a list of financial information (institutions' names and phone numbers) to contact immediately if your ATM card or checks are ever stolen.
There could be a compromise between these two options. Emergency personnel have tried to get the word out about ICE, which stands for In Case of Emergency. Program your emergency contact (spouse, parent, roommate, etc.) in your cell phone directory as ICE. If you are in a crash or other emergency where you cannot communicate, EMTs can look in your phone for your ICE contact and immediately know who to call. The only down side to this method is that you have to remember the person you want to call is listed as ICE.
Since the accident I have now identified my emergency contact as ICE and keep the others listed by name rather than relationship. This should be helpful just in case I have another accident.
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