Launched in 2005 in the U.K.by the East Anglican Ambulance Service, "In Case of Emergency"  (ICE) is a way to store Emergency Contacts on your cell phone. All you need to do is add "ICE" to your phone's address book and put your Emergency Contact information with it. In the event of an emergency, this person could be contacted quickly by ambulance and hospital staff. Multiple Emergency Contacts can be added using ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, etc.

The Henry County Sheriff's Office recognizes the need to quickly notify next-of-kin (or another designated person) in case of emergencies. This provides for the application of needed medical help in a timely manner and can be used to identify persons who are injured, unconscious, or severely disoriented.  The usefulness of ICE could be invaluable, not only in major disasters, but also in day-to-day emergencies such as traffic accidents, medical emergencies (heart attack, stroke, etc.), and weather  emergencies.

The beauty of this program is its simplicity.  It costs nothing to use, there is no registration process (and therefore no privacy concerns), you can update the contact information at any time, and it is totally voluntary. You can set up multiple entries for each contact such as home phone, mobile phone, etc. simply by naming them "ICE1", "ICE2", etc. If you are unable to give information to emergency responders, they can scroll the entries on your phone for an ICE entry.

Taking it one step further, putting a space ahead of the word "ICE" will, in most directories, place that entry at the top of the list in the directory.  This could prevent potential time wasted by emergency personnel scrolling through a list or trying to figure out how to use it on a particular phone.

In recognition of this simple, yet powerful concept, Sheriff Cady is asking that everyone consider adding an ICE directory entry into not only their cell phones, but also the Speed Dials of home phones, as no one can predict where an emergency will take place.  Sheriff Cady is also asking that all public safety officials embrace and endorse this concept, so that no matter where we travel, our emergency contact information is simply a "button-push" away.