Five Things You Should Always Have In Your ICE Contact

Posted in How To, ICE Contacts, Life Hacks, The Backup Plan by Laura Greenwald

Did you know that your iPhone can save your life?

And it’s not just iPhones but any kind of smartphone, like the Droid Incredible, Samsung Galaxy or even the Windows Phone.

The secret is letting your phone do the talking for you in an emergency. And the way to do that, is with ICE.

There are some important things that you need to put into your ICE Contact — like well, the name of your contact. And there is a correct way to do it that ensures emergency personnel will see it right away.

But when it comes to ICE Contacts, some information is more important than others.

Here are the FIVE Things You Should Always Have In Your ICE Contact:

Medical History

The Notes section of your contact is a great place to store everything that doesn’t fit into the regular contact fields. Like the fact that you had surgery last year or that you are allergic to penicillin and other important bits about your medical history that you would need a physician to know.

Prescription Medications

Any prescription medication that you regularly take, over the counter medicines that you usually take along with any supplements can be vital in a trauma situation. Put them in the notes section right before the rest of your medical history.

Your Contact’s Social Media Links

Adding your ICE Contact’s social media links or screen names gives you and emergency personnel another way to reach them. Many times Wi-Fi will be up and running even though regular cell or phone service is not. A quick DM (direct message) or Tweet might be the only way to get someone’s attention, fast.

Alternate Numbers For Your Contact

If your contact is at different locations on different days, using the alternate phone numbers fields are a great way to go. Either type in the location/day next to the number, or if your phone doesn’t let you do that, put the days/locations in the notes area of your contact.

Your Contact’s Relationship To You

For example, let’s say that you have two ICE Contacts. One is your mom and the other is your close friend Susan. If a medical team needs information quickly they’ll probably want to call mom instead of the friend. Sure you can slip in the word friend next to Susan’s name, but unless you put it in the right way, chances are, it will get cut off or will not be immediately clear to an already overworked ER staff.

But if you type in your relationship to your contact, or even better, use the Relationship field, the difference between Mom and Friend is unmistakable.

That’s it. Five vital things. Five minutes. Easy, wasn’t it?

While you’re here, be sure to check out our other posts like How To ICE Your Samsung Galaxy and How To ICE your iPhone to learn everything you need to know about ICEing your phone. And while you’re feeling proactive, don’t forget to put ICE Contacts on your spouse’s and kid’s phones too, along with each other’s contact information.

Join us here next week on the blog or on our Facebook page when we’ll help you Do One MORE Thing to get your life up and running.

Or if you’re ready to get EVERY area of your life straightened up, grab a copy of our book The Backup Plan 3.0, now available in the Downloadable Edition at Gumroad or the Paperback Edition at Amazon.com .

#do1thing #365 #resolution

Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together! We’ll talk later…

Introducing… Connected

Introducing Connected

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More Amazing Things You Can Do In 5 Minutes Or Less

How To Download and Back Up Your Digital Photos

How To Fill Out Your Kid’s Emergency Contact Card

_________________________________________________

Connected | The Book Inspired By The Blog.

What if I told you, there was one thing that you own and probably have with you right now, that can give you the support, information & ability you need to keep everyone and everything you love safe and sound, PLUS the power to gather your family in seconds no matter where they are. What is it? It’s your smartphone! Introducing Connected, an easy to read, easy to use guide that gives you everything you need to turn your smartphone into your very own life preserver. Purchase Connected @ Amazon.com

7Oct2014

How To Fill Out Your Family’s Emergency Contact Cards

Posted in College, How To, ICE Contacts, Life Hacks, The Backup Plan, Travel Safety by Laura Greenwald

Updated On 3/2/21

In the days after September 11th, two thousand, one hundred children were left stranded in daycare.

Why?

Because their parents hadn’t filled out one of the fields on their daycare emergency contact cards.

“Who should we contact if you are not able to pick up your child?”

How could something so basic, strand two thousand children on one of the scariest days in American history?

Fear

The inability or refusal to take two minutes to think through what might happen, if they and their spouse were unable to reach their child. The ridiculous thing is, it doesn’t even have to take a real emergency for this to happen. You could be stuck on the freeway, or trapped in an airplane you were certain would arrive on time.

So take a few moments to think about it. And please, please don’t just jot down the first name that pops into your head!

Imagine that you have an accident or are in the middle of a transportation nightmare and you and your spouse are unable to pick up your child from school one afternoon. Now imagine that you can’t get to her for two or three days. Who would you want taking care of her?

Choosing Your Emergency Contacts

You need someone who knows your child extremely well. Someone who would be able to calm her down and would have the energy to care for her. Someone who knows what she likes and dislikes. And, in case of extreme emergency like September 11th, it would really help to have someone with the ability, brains and fortitude to help locate you or your spouse, if overburdened emergency personnel weren’t able to help.

That’s the kind of thought you need to put into emergency planning, especially where your children are concerned.

Medical History

Now what about your child’s medical history? Some schools or day care centers don’t even provide a card for medical history, or the one they provide might be so sparse that it would be useless in a true medical emergency. Don’t forget that you can simply create a medical history information sheet for them and see that it’s stored with your child’s records. That way you can be sure that the information you would want emergency personnel to have in an emergency, will be right at their fingertips.

If you have already completed the section on Medical Information, you already have Medical History Forms for you and your children. So grab their forms and let’s see how you did with them.

Did you include a current list of chronic conditions, allergies, medications and vitamins along with the dosage? A list of all of your child’s health providers including specialists, dentists and other professionals who see your child on a regular basis?

Did you jot down things that a nurse or physician might need to know to help calm your child down while treating her, until you’re able to be at the hospital? Your child’s likes and dislikes, favorite foods or toys or anything else that might help. No matter how old your child is, kids tend to regress a bit when they’re hurting or frightened, so the information you provide here can go a long way towards keeping them calm and helping the medical team give them the treatment they need until you arrive at the hospital.

Take the emergency contact card from your child’s school or daycare provider and fill it in with your carefully-chosen emergency contacts as well as the information from the medical information form. Like we said, if there’s not enough room to detail important information, just ask the school to store the medical information form you created earlier along with the emergency card. And be sure to store the medical information form, or a link to it, in your smartphone in case you need to refer to it in an emergency.

Your Own Emergency Contact Card

Just because you and your spouse are adults doesn’t mean that you don’t need to take your own emergency cards seriously. Do we have to remind you about all the runners who have been rushed to the hospital in the middle of a 10K without a scrap of medical information? Didn’t think so!

The moment you begin a job, register for school or run a marathon, you’re going to have to fill out your own card. The best way to do it? Exactly like you did for your kids.

Before you jot down your spouse and no one else as an emergency contact, take some time to think of another person or two, who you would want to be notified in an emergency. Your spouse might be out of town, stuck with a dead cell phone or worse might be involved in the same emergency.

If that’s the case who would you want to be there with you? Who would you trust to make decisions for you? To take care of your children if need be, or keep things going until your spouse or other relatives arrive?

And take the same care with your medical history as you did with your children’s. If there isn’t enough room on the contact form for allergies, medications or other vital information, attach the medical information form — if you don’t have one you can get one from this post . Or you can simply attach an additional page of information to make sure your emergency form would actually help in an emergency!

Taking five minutes now to turn your emergency contact card into a truly valuable document, could be one of the smartest things you’ve ever done.

Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together!

At Your Fingertips | Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter

What if I told you, there was something you have with you right now, that can give you the support, information & ability you need to keep everyone and everything you love safe and sound, PLUS the power to gather your family in seconds no matter where they are. What is it? It’s your smartphone! At Your Fingertips is an easy to read, easy to use guide that turns your smartphone into your very own life preserver. Paperback Or Instant Download

Keep Everything You Love Safe | The Book Inspired By The Blog

Keep Everything You Love Safe, is filled with quick, easy, 5 minute steps you can take right now, to get everything that’s important to you organized, safe, sound and accessible. Each section covers a different area, from backing up and fixing family photos, home movies and music, to vital documents, medical and financial information and even getting your digital life in order. Paperback Or Instant Download

How To Fill Out Your Child’s Emergency Contact Card

Posted in College, How To, ICE Contacts, Life Hacks, The Backup Plan by Laura Greenwald

Updated On 9/28/21

In the days after September 11th, two thousand, one hundred children were left stranded in daycare.

Why?

Because their parents didn’t fill out one of the fields on their daycare emergency contact cards.

“Who should we contact if you are not able to pick up your child?”

How could something so basic, strand two thousand children on one of the scariest days in American history?

Fear

The inability or refusal to take two minutes to think through what might happen, if they and their spouse were unable to reach their child. The ridiculous thing is, it doesn’t even have to take a real emergency for this to happen. You could be stuck on the freeway, or trapped in an airplane you were certain would arrive on time.

And with the way the world has been the last few years — from hurricanes to wildfires, tornadoes and oh yeah, COVID — having emergency contact cards are the perfect way to keep your family safe and connected no matter WHAT is happening around you.

So take a few moments to think about it. And please, please don’t just jot down the first name that pops into your head!

Imagine that you have an accident or get in the middle of a transportation nightmare and you and your spouse are unable to pick up your child from school that afternoon. Or for two or three days. Who would you want taking care of him?

You need someone who knows your child extremely well. Someone who would be able to calm her down and would have the energy to care for her. Someone who knows what she likes and dislikes. And, in case of extreme emergency like September 11^th, it would really help to have someone with the ability, brains and fortitude to help locate you or your spouse, if overburdened emergency personnel weren’t able to help.

That’s the kind of thought you need to put into emergency planning, especially where your children are concerned.

Medical History

Now what about your child’s medical history? Some schools or day care centers don’t even provide a card for medical history, or the one they provide might be so sparse that it would be useless in a true medical emergency. Don’t forget that you can simply create your own medical history card and see that it’s stored with your child’s records. That way you can be sure that the information you would want emergency personnel to have in an emergency, will be right at their fingertips.

If you have a copy of our book Keep Everything You Love Safe, you’ll find Medical History Forms for you and your kids in the back of the book. If not, you can download a copy of our Children’s Medical Form here.

So grab your form and let’s get started.

Before you begin filling in the form get a piece of paper and gather everything you have for each child on his or her own sheet. You’ll need to include a list of chronic conditions, allergies, medications and vitamins that they have or currently are taking along with dosage. Include a list of all of your child’s health providers including specialists, dentists and any other professional who sees your child on a regular basis.

Now take a moment to sit by yourself in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Close your eyes and imagine each of your children individually, with a moderate injury, like a broken ankle. You’re sitting in the emergency room with him.

The doctor – someone you’ve never seen before and who doesn’t know your child’s unique medical or emotional needs – walks through the door. What would you tell the doctor about your them? What do you need her to know?

Child by child, jot down all of the things that just went through your mind. Old injuries, allergies, surgeries, anything you think is important. Then do the exercise again, imagining that this had been a serious injury. Is there anything else that you would need to tell the doctor or surgeon caring for your child? Anything that might help save his or her life?

Again, jot down any additional things that went through your mind for each of your children.

At the end of our forms, we include a few other questions about your child. Things that a nurse or physician might need to know to help calm your child down while treating her, until you’re able to be at the hospital So include a brief section on your child’s likes and dislikes, what calms her down, favorite foods or toys or anything else that might help. No matter how old your child is, kids tend to regress a bit when they’re hurting or frightened, so the information you provide here can go a long way towards keeping them calm and helping the medical team give them the treatment they need until you arrive at the hospital.

Since children don’t carry wallets or driver’s licenses, make sure that they have ID cards with current emergency contact information in a few different locations, like in a backpack or tucked into a cell phone or an iPod. And don’t forget to put an ICE Contact (in case of emergency contact) to your children’s iPhones or smartphones. You can find out how to do that right here on our blog.

Taking the steps to ensure your child’s information now, will help keep him safer while giving you a little more peace of mind. Talk about a win-win!

High Tech Toys

Here are the coolest ways we can find to keep everyone you love safe and connected. Smart phones, smart watches, smart flash drives that beam data where you need it and a car accessory that diagnoses your engine on the go. You’re welcome.

The COVID pandemic has created a new list of toys that people can’t do without — including some very cool high-tech solutions to unexpected challenges. Like staying healthy and working from home! Here are some of our favorites.

As great as the emergency cards you just created are, we have even more things in our book “The ICE My Phone Kit” along with step by step directions for ICEing iPhones, Galaxies, regular androids and even phones that are, shall we say, not all that smart.

Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together!

At Your Fingertips | Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter

Keep Everything You Love Safe | The Book Inspired By The Blog

As Amazon Associates we earn commissions from qualifying purchases made from product links.

Did you know that your iPhone can save your life?

And it’s not just iPhones but any kind of smartphone, like the Droid Incredible, Samsung Galaxy or even the Windows Phone.

The secret is letting your phone do the talking for you in an emergency. And the way to do that, is with ICE.

There are some important things that you need to put into your ICE Contact — like well, the name of your contact. And there is a correct way to do it that ensures emergency personnel will see it right away.

But when it comes to ICE Contacts, some information is more important than others.

Here are the FIVE Things You Should Always Have In Your ICE Contact:

Medical History

The Notes section of your contact is a great place to store everything that doesn’t fit into the regular contact fields. Like the fact that you had surgery last year or that you are allergic to penicillin and other important bits about your medical history that you would need a physician to know.

Prescription Medications

Any prescription medication that you regularly take, over the counter medicines that you usually take along with any supplements can be vital in a trauma situation. Put them in the notes section right before the rest of your medical history.

Your Contact’s Social Media Links

Alternate Numbers For Your Contact

If your contact is at different locations on different days, using the alternate phone numbers fields are a great way to go. Either type in the location/day next to the number, or if your phone doesn’t let you do that, put the days/locations in the notes area of your contact.

Your Contact’s Relationship To You

But if you type in your relationship to your contact, or even better, use the Relationship field, the difference between Mom and Friend is unmistakable.

That’s it. Five vital things. Five minutes. Easy, wasn’t it?

Join us here next week on the blog or on our Facebook page when we’ll help you Do One MORE Thing to get your life up and running.

Or if you’re ready to get EVERY area of your life straightened up, grab a copy of our book The Backup Plan 3.0, now available in the Downloadable Edition at Gumroad or the Paperback Edition at Amazon.com .

#do1thing #365 #resolution

Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together! We’ll talk later… Introducing… Connected Introducing Connected Purchase Connected @ Amazon.com

Introducing… Connected

More Amazing Things You Can Do In 5 Minutes Or Less

Connected | The Book Inspired By The Blog.

Share this:

Updated On 3/2/21

In the days after September 11th, two thousand, one hundred children were left stranded in daycare.

Why?

Because their parents hadn’t filled out one of the fields on their daycare emergency contact cards.

“Who should we contact if you are not able to pick up your child?”

How could something so basic, strand two thousand children on one of the scariest days in American history?

Fear

So take a few moments to think about it. And please, please don’t just jot down the first name that pops into your head!

Imagine that you have an accident or are in the middle of a transportation nightmare and you and your spouse are unable to pick up your child from school one afternoon. Now imagine that you can’t get to her for two or three days. Who would you want taking care of her?

Choosing Your Emergency Contacts

That’s the kind of thought you need to put into emergency planning, especially where your children are concerned.

Medical History

If you have already completed the section on Medical Information, you already have Medical History Forms for you and your children. So grab their forms and let’s see how you did with them.

Did you include a current list of chronic conditions, allergies, medications and vitamins along with the dosage? A list of all of your child’s health providers including specialists, dentists and other professionals who see your child on a regular basis?

Your Own Emergency Contact Card

Just because you and your spouse are adults doesn’t mean that you don’t need to take your own emergency cards seriously. Do we have to remind you about all the runners who have been rushed to the hospital in the middle of a 10K without a scrap of medical information? Didn’t think so!

The moment you begin a job, register for school or run a marathon, you’re going to have to fill out your own card. The best way to do it? Exactly like you did for your kids.

Before you jot down your spouse and no one else as an emergency contact, take some time to think of another person or two, who you would want to be notified in an emergency. Your spouse might be out of town, stuck with a dead cell phone or worse might be involved in the same emergency.

If that’s the case who would you want to be there with you? Who would you trust to make decisions for you? To take care of your children if need be, or keep things going until your spouse or other relatives arrive?

Taking five minutes now to turn your emergency contact card into a truly valuable document, could be one of the smartest things you’ve ever done.

Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together!

At Your Fingertips | Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter

Keep Everything You Love Safe | The Book Inspired By The Blog

Keep The Stuff You Love Safe

Share this:

Updated On 9/28/21

In the days after September 11th, two thousand, one hundred children were left stranded in daycare.

Why?

Because their parents didn’t fill out one of the fields on their daycare emergency contact cards.

“Who should we contact if you are not able to pick up your child?”

How could something so basic, strand two thousand children on one of the scariest days in American history?

Fear

And with the way the world has been the last few years — from hurricanes to wildfires, tornadoes and oh yeah, COVID — having emergency contact cards are the perfect way to keep your family safe and connected no matter WHAT is happening around you.

So take a few moments to think about it. And please, please don’t just jot down the first name that pops into your head!

Imagine that you have an accident or get in the middle of a transportation nightmare and you and your spouse are unable to pick up your child from school that afternoon. Or for two or three days. Who would you want taking care of him?

That’s the kind of thought you need to put into emergency planning, especially where your children are concerned.

Medical History

If you have a copy of our book Keep Everything You Love Safe, you’ll find Medical History Forms for you and your kids in the back of the book. If not, you can download a copy of our Children’s Medical Form here.

So grab your form and let’s get started.

Now take a moment to sit by yourself in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Close your eyes and imagine each of your children individually, with a moderate injury, like a broken ankle. You’re sitting in the emergency room with him.

The doctor – someone you’ve never seen before and who doesn’t know your child’s unique medical or emotional needs – walks through the door. What would you tell the doctor about your them? What do you need her to know?

Again, jot down any additional things that went through your mind for each of your children.

Taking the steps to ensure your child’s information now, will help keep him safer while giving you a little more peace of mind. Talk about a win-win!

High Tech Toys

Here are the coolest ways we can find to keep everyone you love safe and connected. Smart phones, smart watches, smart flash drives that beam data where you need it and a car accessory that diagnoses your engine on the go. You’re welcome.

The COVID pandemic has created a new list of toys that people can’t do without — including some very cool high-tech solutions to unexpected challenges. Like staying healthy and working from home! Here are some of our favorites.

As great as the emergency cards you just created are, we have even more things in our book “The ICE My Phone Kit” along with step by step directions for ICEing iPhones, Galaxies, regular androids and even phones that are, shall we say, not all that smart.

Have Fun Getting Your Stuff Together! We’ll talk later…

Introducing… Connected

Introducing Connected

Purchase Connected @ Amazon.com