I got a most unsettling phone call Friday . . .

[flamin lib]

Before I tell you about the phone call let me recount a story that briefly made the email circuit right after the London bombings. Seems that the local police found that cell phones were among the best ways of identifying victims of the attack. One of the first responders tried to start a movement called "ICE" or In Case of Emergency. By putting your emergency contact phone number under the heading ICE they would know immediately who to contact.

Anyway, my cell goes off Friday about 4:00 PM.

"Andy here." That's the way I always answer the phone.

"This is Arlington Memorial Hospital. Are you a relative of Mr. Xxxxx Xxxxx?"

"No, I'm his Real Estate Agent. Is there something wrong?"

"We are trying to locate his next of kin. Do you know any of his relatives?"

"I'll see if I can find someone, can you tell me anything?"

"We are trying to save his life and need his medical history and his wishes for treatment as quickly as possible."

So, go get your cell phone right now and make an entry labeled Emergency. Use it for your next of kin or other emergency number. Better yet make it 1Emergency so it floats to the top of the address book.

[crispini]

1. You know, my cell phone won't allow me to have

the same phone number in more than one entry. I tried this, but my emergency phone number is the same as another one that's already in there.

[Fridays Child]

2. Try putting one in with the area code and one without.

[WillowTree]

4. Don't be silly.

You don't have to put a separate entry in your phone for the person(s) who should be contacted in an emergency. Just change the entry for that person. I used to have my sister's numbers listed in my cell phone diriectory as "Kim-Cell", "Kim-Home" and "Kim-Work". Now I have them listed as "ICE-Kim-Sister-Cell", "ICE-Kim-Sister-Home" and "ICE-Kim-Sister-Work" to ID her to rescue/medical workers in the event of an emergency. But that doesn't stop me from using the same entries to call her when I need to.

[flamin lib]

9. Why not append Emergency to the end of the name entry?

[spotbird]

3. Is Mr.X ok? nt

[Lex]

6. That's what I was wondering too. nt

[flamin lib]

10. Not being a relative I don't know of his condition. I only know it is

very grave or worse. The hospital asked for next of kin or anyone who would know his medical history and wishes for treatment.

[gratuitous]

12. Keep us posted, but . . .

I smell a rat. Did you get the name of the hospital and its phone number?

I hate being so suspicious, but I blame Bush.

[flamin lib]

17. No, it's ligit. I've been in contact with Mr X on a daily basis.

The hospital identified themselves, gave me a contact name and return phone number.

[TrueAmerican]

5. Why don't they call the cell phone company?

The cell company will have information on him and they will have a long history of numbers he has called.

[lavenderdiva]

7. I heard this story about 'ICE', and entered my husband's name & cell#

as my ICE entry... Thanks for posting this story!

[GrumpyGreg]

11. Old broad here--thanks for the info--it never occurred to me

to put an emergency contact # in my cell phone.

[lavenderdiva]

14. Welcome to DU GrumpyGreg!!

:hi:

[GrumpyGreg]

15. Thank you !

[RC]

8. After you are done, call the ICE number(s) to make sure they work.

Don't ass/u/me you didn't screw up entering the number.
(DOH! Don't ask.)

[mcscajun]

13. Make sure you don't use the LOCK feature on your phone...

...if you want anyone to be able to ACCESS your ICE/Emergency listing in that cell phone.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

16. I have an entry listed as "HOME" on my cell phone

in case I lose my phone and someone finding it wants to find the owner.

But I will add "EMERGENCY" next to my husbands cell #, as well.

[goclark]

18. I put ICE

and where it says ADD NUMBERS to that listing I did.

The info that I had was that 1st responders were to look for the name ICE all over the world.

IMO, if we try to change the word to ... Emergency or Kim at ICE that would be harder.

Also remember, that time is of the essence and in addition to Emergency Crews, it could be an ordinary citizen that is trying to get hold of a variety of people.