Copyright 2007 Independent News and Media Ltd
All Rights Reserved
CAPE ARGUS, South Africa — A worldwide electronic mail campaign involving emergency phone numbers will catch on here if cellphone owners get involved, says Barry Bezuidenhout, operations manager at Magic Mountain Productions in Cape Town.
But the results were less than encouraging when Argus Action made a spot check to see if emergency workers knew that “in-case-of-emergency” numbers were being stored on cellphones.
Called the ICE campaign - “In Case of Emergency” - it asks cellphone owners to store, under the name ICE, the number of a contact person or persons who should be reached during an emergency.
“We all carry our cellphones with names and numbers stored in the memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends,” said Bezuidenhout.
“If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending to us would have our cellphone but wouldn’t know who to call.
“Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored, but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence the ICE campaign.”
Bezuidenhout said the ICE concept was catching on quickly.
“The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always cellphones with patients, but nobody knew which number to call.
“So he thought it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognised name for this purpose.
“In an emergency situation, emergency service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialling the number you have stored as ‘ICE’.”
For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 and so on.
“It’s a great idea that will make a difference,” said Bezuidenhout.
“Let’s spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our cellphones today.”
A spokesman for the Emergency Control Centre in Fish Hoek said: “We have a small notice up here about the ICE campaign, but it isn’t something we have promoted.
“I am aware of it, although I haven’t applied it to my own cellphone.”
At Cape Medical Response, the emergency worker who answered the phone said he had never heard of ICE numbers stored in cell- phones.
“I think it’s a good idea, because often at accident scenes people can’t talk, so you don’t know who to phone. You just phone the last person they dialled.”
Jaward Peters, a supervisor at the Metro ambulance call centre, said he was not aware of the campaign, but supported the idea fully.