Hospital Highlights

Summer safety for kids

Children face heat-related safety risks in the summer. Falling out of open windows and injuries resulting from being left in hot cars are two major causes.

A child dies from heatstroke about once every 10 days from being left alone in a hot vehicle. In fact, heatstroke is the leading cause of non-crash vehicle fatality for kids 14 and younger. Children climb into unlocked cars to play, or are left alone in the car. These are tragedies that are 100 percent preventable.

A child’s body absorbs more heat on a hot day than an adult’s does. Ten minutes is all the time it takes for a car to reach deadly temperatures with a child locked inside.

San Francisco State University found that in 52 percent of cases, the child was “forgotten” by the caregiver. In more than 29 percent of cases, kids got into vehicles on their own.

If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. If the child is in distress due to heat, get that child out as quickly as possible. Cool the child rapidly by spraying the child with cool water. (An ice bath isn’t necessary nor desirable).

Children are injured every summer from falling out of windows. While screens are designed to keep bugs out, they do not keep children in. At Harborview Medical Center, they treat 30 to 50 children every year for injuries caused by falls from windows. In a case just a few weeks ago, a three year old fell out a third story window and fell 25 feet onto concrete.

To prevent kids falling out of windows move furniture away from windows. Install window guards or stops on windows. Kids can fall from windows open as little as five inches. If you don’t have window guards or stops, keep windows latched.

As with all types of injury prevention watch young children closely.

Debbie Glass, CEO

Whitman Hospital & Medical Center