Some people are programming their cell phones with an "In Case of Emergency" entry.
By EMILY ANTHES
Published August 5, 2005
ST. PETERSBURG - Doug Harrell is a hospital chaplain, but sometimes he feels more like a detective. His job includes finding the next of kin for the sick, the injured and the dying at Bayfront Medical Center.
Some patients are prepared. Like the elderly woman admitted Wednesday who couldn't remember her emergency phone number contact but had it in her wallet.
Others are not.
"We've gone hours, and, it's very unusual, but we've gone days without finding next of kin," Harrell said.
Now, a campaign aims to make Harrell's job a little easier by urging people to designate emergency contacts in their cell phones, storing the number under an entry labeled "ICE" - In Case of Emergency.
The July bombing attacks in London have helped the idea gain traction. In the weeks since, the ICE campaign has spread throughout the United Kingdom and across the Atlantic Ocean by word of mouth, e-mail and blogs.
ICE was the brainchild of Bob Brotchie, a paramedic who works for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust in Cambridge, England. Brotchie came up with the idea after thinking about roadside rescues where he "had to look through the mobile phone contacts struggling for information on a shocked or injured person," he said in a statement posted on the East Anglian Web site.
ICE has won support from emergency personnel nationally and is being endorsed by a growing number of U.S. agencies and groups, including the Florida Fire Chiefs Association. Supporters are cautiously optimistic about its potential.
"It's not a nirvana. It's not a great cure-all for everything," said Bill Wade, spokesman for Tampa Fire Rescue. "But it's just another tool." Advocates say designating an ICE contact is helpful even if that person's number already is in the phone. Phonebook entries that say "Mom" or "Home" don't always help. Often, spouses are listed by first name, making them indistinguishable from acquaintances, or a patient may prefer doctors contact a roommate instead of a parent who lives hundreds of miles away.
"In the cell phone, if it doesn't say "ICE,' we don't know who those people are," Harrell said. "We will call them if it's an emergency, but we worry about violating privacy."
ICE also is a good idea for children and teenagers who may have cell phones but not drivers' licenses or photo identification, Wade said.
But so far, ICE seems theoretical locally. Harrell had not seen any patients with ICE entries in their phones. Neither had the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office or Tampa Fire Rescue, though officials at both places were familiar with the campaign.
Sheriff's Office officials said they think ICE is a good idea, but spokesman Jim Bordner urged people "not to put all their eggs in one basket with this." "In the event that their cell phone would be disabled or destroyed, we wouldn't want people relying on this," he said. ICE should complement, not replace, other methods of designating emergency contacts such as cards in wallets identifying next of kin, Wade said.
Shortly after word began to spread about the ICE campaign, e-mails began circulating a warning that creating an ICE phonebook entry would trigger a mobile phone virus. The virus, according to rumors, would drain pay-as-you-go phones of credits or otherwise trigger premium phone charges.
The East Anglian Ambulance service issued a statement calling such rumors a hoax, and accusing the hoaxers of "sabotaging" the ICE campaign.
