Once I became a mother, I spent even more time than I had previously thinking about what would happen if there were an emergency. Suddenly, when there are children to care for, being involved in an emergency situation affects proportionally more people. It may feel a little like borrowing trouble when you spend time thinking about what would happen in an emergency, but really it is really important to be prepared. I grew up in a house that was well decorated with the old green Mr. Yuk stickers. It was a method to keep us safe, and as an adult, I appreciate the symbol that kept us out of the poisons, and the support that little sticker provided parents and caregivers with the poison control number displayed prominently right there.
There's a new campaign that I want to make you aware of, one that takes only seconds to complete. The other day, I called my husband on his cell phone and when he answered he said, "Hello ICE-Colleen." At first I thought he was giving me a new nickname (for the record, I think it's a pretty badass nickname), but he explained to me that I am now listed in his phone as ICE Colleen because Emergency Responders will look in his cell phone under ICE (In Case Of Emergency) should he be in an accident and they need to find his emergency contact. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2006 that 1.6 million emergency room patients could not provide contact information because they were incapacitated. Mr. Lindstrom will not be one of those people in the future, because he took a couple seconds to put me in his phone under ICE.
There's a little more to it, but it's all still doable. It's a four step process: 1. Choose a person to be your emergency contact. 2. Make sure that they are equipped with your important information regarding your Medicines, Allergies, and Doctors. 3. Put them under ICE in your cell phone. and lastly 4. put an ICE sticker on your phone that will alert emergency responders that you have this type of communication protocol in place. You can get ICE stickers and find out more about this awesome campaign here.
I'm already ICEd, will you do it too?
Pop over to It's My Baby Blog for some more great ideas on Emergency preparedness for your family.
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I have my ICE contacts on my phone -- have for a while.
ReplyDeleteI got an email about this today, not sure if it's true, but there's some good advice: Don't use names like hubby, wife, sweetie, etc. The story I heard was that a woman's purse was stolen, the thief used her cell to text her husband for their PIN #, he texted it back and then got a call from her that her purse had been stolen. Two lessons there: 1. Use names in your contacts list and 2. Don't give out personal information via text -- call back.
The same email had a message about not putting your home address in your GPS. Someone's car was stolen while at a football game. The thieves used the GPS to find their house and used the garage door opener to gain access to the house. They knew the people wouldn't be home until well after the game was over and cleaned them out. (Nice neighbors to not see this.) The suggestion is to use a nearby business (like a gas station) as your "home base" on GPS. (Face it -- you know how to drive the first 5-10 miles of any trip anyway.)
Thanks for the reminder, Colleen! I had a few people designated as "emergency contacts" in my contacts, but have added ICE to the information. I'm pretty paranoid about something happening, especially if I have Gavin and something happens to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have a couple. If you're with your spouse (your ICE contact) when the emergency happens (say, a car accident), you need a backup person to call.
ReplyDeleteI put in ICE contacts awhile ago but made sure to have 01 ICE so it would show up first in my contacts list since numbers prioritize before alpha characters. It's now the first contact - no need to scroll down. Just an extra tip!
ReplyDeleteThis actually happened to a friend of mine 5 years ago - her hubs was in a VERY serious car accident - and HCMC had no clue who to call - she was listed by simply her 1st name.
ReplyDeleteI've had ICE in our phones ever since -