ICE Safety Campaign has a Goal to Keep Elderly Safe in Cold

As cold temperatures blanket our area, a growing number of seniors may wind up in trouble, stuck in life threatening situations. They may slip and fall, their car might break down, and they may get lost, confused, or stranded – literally left out in the cold. That’s why Visiting Angels has launched our ICE a Cell Phone Safety Campaign to help seniors in case of emergency. To ICE a cell phone, you load emergency contacts in seniors’ phones with the word ICE in front of the emergency contacts’ names, so when someone finds a senior in trouble they know who to call In Case of Emergency. Visiting Angels hopes this will become a universal emergency plan – a quick way for emergency responders to pick up a senior’s cell phone, and press the letter ‘I’ to find seniors’ emergency contacts.

 

“We urge families to ICE seniors’ phones, or come by our offices and we will ICE seniors’ phones for free,” says Larry Meigs, CEO of Visiting Angels. “We care for thousands of older Americans, and we constantly hear stories about how families need an emergency plan for seniors. One family told us their elderly loved one with dementia roamed five miles from home. When police tried to help they had no clue who to call. ICE contacts help responders know who to call in emergencies in this cold or at any time of year.”