In Case of Emergency (ICE) Campaign Email
Summary:Email forward advises you to store the word "I C E" in your mobile phone book along with the number of the person you wish to be contacted in case of emergency (
Full commentary below.)
Status:True
Example:(Submitted, July 2005)
East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston and in association with Vodafone's annual life savers award.
The idea is that you store the word "I C E" in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency". In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It's so simple that everyone can do it.
Please will you also email this to everybody in your address book, it won't take too many 'forwards' before everybody will know about this. It really could help the emergency services in doing their job.
For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.
Commentary:
This message circulates via email as well as online forums and blogs. The message rapidly gained momentum in the wake of the London terrorist bombings of July 2005.
Information in the message is valid and, in fact, the advice it contains is well worth heeding. An
article on the East Anglian Ambulance Service website offers more information about the ICE campaign. In April 2005, clinical team leader Bob Brotchie, launched the UK based ICE campaign with support from Vodafone.
The
East Anglian Ambulance Service article states that:
By entering the acronym ICE - for In Case of Emergency - into the mobile's phone book, users can log the name and number of someone who should be contacted in an emergency.
The idea follows research carried out by Vodafone that shows more than 75 per cent of people carry no details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident.
Detailed information about the campaign is available on the
ICE website. Many other regions around the world have now embraced the idea, including the United States and Australia.
In a strange twist, malicious pranksters have apparently attempted to sabotage the ICE campaign by circulating nonsensical email rumours that ICE is actually a type of mobile phone virus. These rumours are completely false and should be ignored. An example of one of these hoax emails is included below:
Latest Mobile Phone Scam
I have just received information from [Name of company removed] that there is a new mobile phone scam concerning Pay as You Go (PAYG) Mobiles.
The scam is that you are asked to set up an "In Case of Emergency (ICE) Account" on your PAYG mobile.
Apparently this is a modular system that searches for the word ICE text and then changes your phones setting and takes any PAYG credit left on your phone.
Please ensure that this information is circulated to all staff and please pass on to family and friends
References:
ICE - we call, when you can't
Help out in a crisis - with ICE
Last updated: 2 November 2007
First published: July 2005
Write-up by Brett M. Christensen
