The CareGiver Partnership: ICE Program Helps the Elderly Stay Safe in Frigid Weather

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In addition to calling or checking on a loved one daily, make sure that if she does have to go out, she’s properly equipped should an emergency arise.

Neenah, WI (PRWEB) February 12, 2014

Cold temperatures are dangerous at any age, but they can be especially life-threatening to the elderly, who face slipping hazards, stranded vehicles and confusion. Visiting Angels, a national, in-home senior care agency, launched a program to help emergency responders contact loved ones quickly and easily — an initiative commended by Lynn Wilson, Founder of The CareGiver Partnership, a national retailer of incontinence products and other home health care supplies.

“With the extreme winter weather hitting many areas of the country, the elderly especially are at risk because the body’s ability to maintain a constant internal temperature decreases with age,” says Wilson. “In addition to calling or checking on a loved one daily, make sure that if she does have to go out, she’s properly equipped should an emergency arise.”

The Visiting Angels In Case of Emergency Safety Campaign is simple. It requires adding emergency contact names and numbers in seniors’ phones with the letters “ICE” in front of those names. If someone finds a senior in trouble, he will know whom to call. Visiting Angels says an ICE contact entry should include every phone number — mobile, home, work, etc. — and that person should know the senior’s medical conditions, medications they’re taking and doctors’ names.

Wilson offers a few more tips to expand on this initiative:

•     In addition to ICE numbers being found under the letter “I” on a contact list, those names and numbers may be added a second time with “AA ICE” inserted before the emergency contact’s name. This ensures those contacts are found at the top of the list.
•     Some phones already include an In Case of Emergency entry at the top of the list. It’s a good idea to check a loved one’s contact list on a regular basis to ensure the information is up to date.
•     Seniors who use pass codes to lock their phones can still include ICE information on the lock screen. One way is to create an image with the ICE name and number, transfer the image to the phone and use the picture as the phone’s lock-screen wallpaper.

Read more about ICE: A Cell Phone Safety Campaign and download a free ICE label at the Visiting Angels website. The label can be printed on self-adhesive or regular paper and attached to a cell phone.

For more tips on keeping the elderly safe in extreme winter weather, a free fall prevention guide, and hundreds of other topics of interest to seniors and caregivers, visit The CareGiver Partnership’s site.

The CareGiver Partnership is a national direct-to-consumer retailer of home healthcare products for incontinence, diabetes, nutrition support and more. In its seventh year of providing products and services that help caregivers and loved ones maintain personal dignity, the company also offers an online library of more than 1,500 family caregiver resources and personal service by experts in caregiving. Call 1-800-985-1353 or visit online at caregiverpartnership.com.

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