Tan Kin Lian's Blog: ICE - In case of emergency

Friday, February 08, 2008

ICE - In case of emergency

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending on us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored; but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.

The concept of "ICE" is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under thename "ICE" ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person bysimply dialing the number you have stored as "ICE."

For more than one contact name, simply enter ICE 1, ICE 2 and ICE 3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference!

TIP BY TAN KIN LIAN: I used the "duplicate" function in my mobilephone to copy the name of my family members into a new contact, and add ICE in front of their name.

5 comments:

hongjun said...: If I were the paramedic, I may call those who are in the SMS Inbox/Outbox list. These are the people whom I assume closer (at least communicated with recently) to the victim. So perhaps do not delete all messages from your Inbox/Outbox.

Another method is obviously to store your family contacts as "Dad", "Mon", "Brother", "Sister". From the description, they are already very obvious.

hongjun; February 08, 2008 10:53 AM
Anonymous said...: Few months back, my mum collapsed at a bus stop near Fu Lu Shou building in town because of low sugar level.

A kind passer by lady asked tended to her and asked her if she has a number for her to contact. Good thing in her weak state she could rattle off my home number.

I was contacted and I asked her to contact 995 to send her to TTSH and I rushed down.

After that incident, my friend did a contact card and laminated it for me. It contains my home, my mobile number and my sister's mobile number.

For old folks a contact ICE card be created and asked the old folks to keep in their wallet or hand bag.

PS- We have decided if kidnapper got her , they can have her and on top of that, we will send the ransom too ! :)

- Thomas Phua; February 08, 2008 11:03 AM
Collin said...: Nice, will help to spread the campaign through my blog too.

Mr Tan, is this a worldwide recognized campaign?; February 08, 2008 3:27 PM
Anonymous said...: I got another suggestion. Sometimes perhaps in an accident, we may not have our NRIC/Wallets with us. (for whatever reason) How about creating entries in our mobile phone contact list with MYNAME, which will store our full name, as well as MYNIRC, which will store our NRIC number ?; February 08, 2008 10:52 PM
Anonymous said...: I have heard some urban legend that people might abuse this if they somehow lose their mobile phone. Simple scenario involve bad intention people (that found the phone) call to the "ICE" number, and inform that his family member is in danger/critical situation and needs money immediately. And, because the people is uncontactable, there's a possibility that the family member believes such thing. However, I don't think this is applicable to Singapore, but, bigger countries like Indonesia or Malaysia, this case might happen.; February 10, 2008 12:35 AM