Ottawa paramedics are urging people to try a new way of storing emergency phone numbers in their cellphones.

They want residents to create a contact entry in their phone directory called "ICE," which stands for in-case-of-emergency.

The idea for the acronym came from a British paramedic who treated casualties in the London subway bombings last summer.

It allows a paramedic to quickly identify someone's emergency contact if the person is unconscious or unable to speak.

"They'll be able to provide details namely to the paramedics, but also the police department and other emergency responders," said Andrew Gleeson, a primary care paramedic.

Gleeson said he has three numbers programmed under his ICE entry, just in case some are not available at the time.

The easily identifiable acronym saves paramedics time from scrolling through an entire list of contacts.

Paramedics also note that for some cellphones if a dot is added before the acronym, it will appear at the top of the contact list.