Payson Roundup

The Northern Gila County Fire Chiefs want to turn your cell phone into a potentially life-saving device. They are asking all residents to establish an emergency contact that can be reached by paramedics and other emergency personnel during an emergency.

Dubbed ICE or “In Case of Emergency,” the program is a simple concept that gives emergency responders access to this contact.

The ICE program works like this. In the case of a medical emergency in which the patient is not able to communicate with responding emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, EMS simply check a patient’s cell phone for a number stored under the ICE heading, such as “ICE Wife” or “ICE Daughter.”

“It only takes somebody a minute or two to program the appropriate entry into their cell phone, but it could make a world of difference if they should be involved in an accident and police or medical personnel are trying to determine how to contact their family,” said the NGCFC in a press release.

Although the program targets cell phones, it also works on any home phone with a built-in phone directory and even in a conventional address book.

“It could make it much easier for emergency responders to locate your family if something happens to you and in some cases, the medical information they can provide could literally save your life,” said Chuck Jacobs, chairman of the NGCFC.

For more information on ICE, contact your local fire department.