Now, local emergency officials are saying it should be adopted here, given that some two million of Jamaica's 2.7 million population are accessible by mobiles.

Dr Barbara Carby, director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) having heard about the campaign recently, believes it is a good idea that should be adopted by Jamaicans, saying it could also augment medical response to emergencies.

"Let us say, for example, the paramedics find this person but this person may have a particular medical history, which is relevant to their treatment, we can contact the family member and they could give that information right away," said Carby.  "I think it's a good idea."

Even in emergency cases at home, Dr Carby added, where the household worker may need to contact a doctor or other persons for her employer, ICE would come in handy.

"She can hit the doctor's number immediately or whoever that contact person is and wouldn't have to be searching about for numbers, so it's a good idea," Carby said.

The campaign encourages persons to store the name ICE - acronym for 'in case of emergency' - in their cellphone address book, and against it enter the name and number of an emergency contact, for example:

ICE: Mom 999-9999; or ICE: Sandra 222-2222.  If there are more than one emergency contact numbers, then they could be stored in alpha-numeric sequence, such as ICE1, ICE2, ICE3.

In an emergency, for example, an accident in which the injured person is unable to make a call, emergency personnel can easily identify and contact relatives listed under ICE.

The idea was developed by Bob Brotchie, a paramedic at the East Anglican Ambulance Service and was launched in May of this year, but only caught on two months later after the London rail and bus bombings that injured more than 700 and killed 55.

It took days for some persons to locate their missing relatives, not knowing whether they were alive or just injured.  Locally, the initiative has also received positive reactions from members of the public and private sector agencies.

Heather Shields, communications manager at dominant cellular service provider Digicel, welcomed the campaign saying any initiative that falls into the category of helping to save lives would get support from her company.

Digicel is said to control some 1.3 million of the mobile market.  Shields said Digicel mobiles are pre-programmed with quick-dial numbers such as 119 for police emergencies and 110 for fire and ambulance services.  The other two cellular companies, Cable and Wireless Jamaica, and MiPhone similarly input those numbers for customers.

"We are always looking at providing innovative products that will not only allow our subscribers to communicate and stay in touch more effectively, but also to help them keep safe," said Shields.  "Any initiative that falls into this category with the primary focus of saving lives and helping citizens is certainly worth looking at," Shields told Sunday Finance.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20050820T230000-0500_86619_OBS_PUT__ICE__ON_YOUR_CELLPHONE.asp