NAEMT on the ICE Initiative

 NAEMT supports the awareness being created by the grassroots initiative known as ICE (In Case of Emergency). This initiative asks individuals to use their cell phones as a means of notifying emergency responders of an individual to contact who has information regarding the patient’s identification and medical history. By finding the acronym “ICE” with a name attached in the cell phone’s directory, an emergency responder will be able to contact someone who can identify the victim. The ICE phone directory file could also contain pertinent medical information, if the phone’s owner patient decides to list it.

NAEMT asks all emergency responders to be aware of this new source of information when the patient or family is unable to provide pertinent information. It is important to remember that the cell phone may have become separated from its owner, so emergency responders should be sure that the phone they are examining belongs to the victim.