This is a great, simple idea that can help you and yours.

A global campaign, was started in the UK in 2005, calling for individuals to program in an "In Case of Emergency" contact, "ICE" (for short) into their mobile phones.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2006 that 1,600,000 emergency room patients could not provide contact information because they were incapacitated. So many people (including our children), leave home each day without any identification or emergency contact information, yet carry a cell phone.

You can list multiple emergency contacts as "ICE1", "ICE2" etc; it will take only a few minutes and does not cost a cent.

Be safe.

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"You put the F.U. in "fun"." TJ Donkey Boy aka Ouchboy

This is a really good, and simple, idea. It is recognised in UK and most of Europe, USA and Australia at least. I have had ICE1 and ICE2 set up in my mobile for ages now. If you are incapacitated in any way, the Emergency Services will look for these numbers in your phone. They are not going to know the name of your partner etc.

Maybe one of the local responders can chime in. I worked in EMS in Germany and in the U.S. for a long time, and the ICE idea is unknown to me. Would a Swiss medic know to check a cell phone???

Edit: The Snopes entry has some good points as usual. Maybe combined with a sticker it might work? Hospitals may have more time to frisk patients, and the sticker would tell them to look for those ICE entries.

The Swiss police checked mine when I was in an accident (I didn't even know they had it, until it was returned to me in hospital).

Great idea J.L-P. I just added this to my phone, and told my husband (who is away) to do the same.

Instead of ICE, I wrote out In Case of Emergency. Hopefully they will understand that here in Switzerland.

Whilst I have mine set up like this just remember that many phones automatically lock so it is of no use.

If your phone allows you to set a screen message when it is locked then put your ICE number on here as then it does not matter.

I guess that the Police could access a locked out phone.

I haven't heard of the ICE numbers which means that they probably aren't promoted in Switzerland.

I think that calling a relative or friend isn't high on the priority list for an ambulance crew. They likely take a look at an unconscious person's wallet because organ recipients, chronic ills and and drug allergics have a note there and that's enough.

Once a patient is past the emergency room, an ID, half-fare card or insurance card is sufficient for identification and the hospital could call the person's appartment. Maybe the ICE number has some merits for single-person households.

Another question is if an ICE number releases from medical confidentiality.

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Speaking as a Swiss-trained paramedic with 11 years experience, I can assure you that we frequently look at mobile phones, search pockets, etc if someone is unable to give an emergency number, or even their own ID.

Yes, we know about ICE, and use it if filled in.

With regards to professional confidentiality, in the case of a serious medical emergency, any judge in the land would over-ride the fact that you told someone who knew the patient that they were unconscious, in an unstable condition etc The law is reasonable about this, otherwise not knowing an ID or medical condition could put the patient in more danger.

I hate to say this but this idea has been misused by a few miscreants. Although I must admit the instances I know of are from India and may not necessarily be present here.
In case you lose your phone, and a jerk finds it, he can call the ICE or any other number that you might have stored as hubby, wife, dad or mama and ask them to come to a certain place with a certain amount to take care of an imaginary crisis. Once you are there then they can mug you. Has happened a few times in India, and it is a shame that for every good idea there is some asshole who figures out how to misuse it....Again I would love to believe that it is not a real risk in Switzerland...

^^^ That is the risk of having a cell phone.

ICE helps a criminal to nail down its target from a list of lots of contacts from your phonebook. Safer thing is to add people to your phone book just by a name without a hint of your relationship to them. Again there is a limit to how paranoid you can be and that too in a certain country. In countries where crime is high I would take these precautions but may be will ease out in countries like Switzerland..

Indian * con-artists have been pulling that trick for years - without modern technology and even on tourists.

If you're gullible, people will try and rip you off - and suceed.

* I'm sure this happens in many countries but I've met more tourists ripped off due to an imaginary crisis in India than any other country. And this is long before the age of cellular telephones.

You can feel at ease here; I've had my wallet (with the 10chf still in it ), my b-permit and twice my cash card returned to me.*

Again from personal experience (as cited above)- the police did take a look at my cell phone for information on me.

It's your choice; for me it's ICE.

*it was a forgetful epoque

Having just the letters ICE on your cell phone will have the same reaction as having TGV, locals will just think you use public transportation a lot..

as another poster said she used "in case of emergency". I recommend using both and i already have my start up screen saying "if found call LANDLINE for reward". I'd never heard of it but it makes sense, particularly with kids/habitual non-wallet or purse carriers

Hopefully, if any Emergency Services checked a phone, they would be aware of the possible confusion.

I think that the advantages that it may be checked outweigh the possible problems.

Well, pat yourself on the back for not being so gullible, but I am rather happy to think that my parents/wife will show up desperately anywhere with anything if they were told that I am bleeding profusely and in an emergency...

pat yourself again, for you seem to know a lot about India....

I may turn up at a hospital without question (and of course come to no harm) but being asked to turn up anywhere else would raise alarm bells and get me thinking.

I know but a merest trifle about India -it's such a huge, amazing place with such a diverse history.

But I've met a lot of gullible (or perhaps naive is a better word) western tourists in India.

I'm not trying to knock India - it's a great place - I'm just relating my experiences on con-artists there.

Or perhaps its a reflection on the type of people who go there for a visit.

Why the sarcasm?

I guess I misinterpreted your post. I should have exercised a bit restraint before posting a rude reply. I apologise