Here’s How To List ‘In Case Of Emergency’ Contacts In Your Phone

It’s not fun to think about who you’d call in case of a medical emergency—or who you’d want someone else to call if you were unable to, but it’s important to make sure you’ve got that sort of thing sorted out, just in case. If you’re rushed to the hospital, the medical staff needs to know who they can call, so having that clearly laid out in your phone can save time and be very helpful to the professionals helping you.

There are a few ways you can go about doing this since, as you know, there’s an app for everything. But, we’ll start with the easiest method of all.

The easiest way to make sure doctors and nurses know who to call is to list “ICE” beside contact names in your phone. The “ICE,” of course, stands for “in case of emergency.”

The American College of Emergency Physicians says paramedics and staff are “increasingly aware” of using ICE in your phone and know to look for that when scrolling through your contact list.

It’s suggested to have two different ICE numbers. You can list them as “ICE – 1” and “ICE – 2,” or list them according to their relation, i.e., “ICE – Spouse,” etc.

If your phone is locked by a password, it could be more difficult for someone to access your phone, so this is where apps come in handy.

Android users can download QuickICE to make sure contacts are accessible from their lockscreen, no password needed.

iPhone users can set up emergency contacts by following these steps:

• Go to the Health app
• Tap Medical ID
• Tap edit
• Tap add emergency contacts
• Select people from your contact list
• Turn on “Show When Locked”

Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to access the emergency contacts by clicking “Emergency” straight from your lockscreen. Then, tap “medical ID” and select a contact.

Taking the time to do this could really help during an emergency, so make sure you’re prepared!