By Janet Zimmerman
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.)
Copyright 2006 The Press Enterprise, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
It’s not unusual for ski patrol director Donna Newlin to scan pre-programmed numbers on a cell phone looking for an emergency contact for skiers and snowboarders injured at Snow Valley Mountain Resort.
Even if they don’t lose consciousness, someone who suffers a head injury often “can’t remember simple details like who they came to the resort with or their phone number,” Newlin said.
A quick and easy way of identifying contact information in the phone’s address book would help, she said.
That’s the idea behind ICE, which stands for “in case of emergency.” Rescue workers are urging cell-phone users to program the acronym with a name and phone number so emergency personnel can quickly scroll the list, see the ICE designation and locate a loved one.
“We have had situations where we have tried to get a hold of a family member,” said Newlin, who only recently found out about ICE. “I will go into their pre-programmed speed dial and find an entry for `dad,’ `mom’ or `home'; that’s what we’ve always done.”
But minutes can be precious, especially if a patient is close to death, said Jan Serrano, a nurse and trauma coordinator at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
A cell phone is a reliable way of finding next of kin, but it’s not unusual for nurses to call a dozen numbers trying to find a family member, said Serrano, who has yet to see a patient with the ICE designation.
“It’s very difficult and very time-consuming. If you have a patient you know is not going to survive, you’re wasting all this time where the loved one could have been at their bedside when they passed,” she said.
A British paramedic pioneered ICE early last year, and the movement picked up speed after London’s deadly transit-system bombings in July 2005.
Since then, ICE has been promoted in the United States in various mass e-mailings and encouraged by such agencies as the Palm Desert Police Department, Sprint-Nextel, the state Legislature and the California State Firefighters Association.
“This is important stuff,” said Dennis Robertson, a volunteer ski patroller at Snow Valley and assistant director of extension programs at Cal State San Bernardino.
He has five ICE numbers in his phone - two for his wife, two for his parents and one for his sister.
After learning about the program through an e-mail he got at work, Robertson said he forwarded it to everyone he knew and encouraged them to add ICE to their phones.
The cell-phone listing should be backup to identification and contact information kept in the wallet, since phones can get lost and damaged, said Matthew Levy, spokesman for the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, a 10,000-member union.
The contacts are useful for immediate information, including medications, allergies and medical history, and may save a life, he said.
“I’m surprised how many people haven’t heard of it, but on the other hand, I’m surprised how many people have,” Levy said. “It’s catching on.”