Childhood Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention
Childhood Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention
Dawn Mayer with the North Dakota Department of Health talks about preventing child heatstroke in vehicles.
Below is the transcription to the above audio:
This is KNOWTIFY. Take a minute for your health.
Hello, I’m Dawn Mayer with the North Dakota Department of Health. I’m here to talk with you about preventing child heatstroke in vehicles. Last year in the US, 23 kids died from this. Child heatstroke can occur when a child overheats after being left in a hot vehicle. When left in a hot vehicle, a child’s body temperature can rise very quickly. And when that happens, their body starts to fight the rising body temperature to stay cool, and if it can’t, it will start to shut down.
Most child heatstroke deaths happen because someone forgets the child is in the car. Many times the child is forgotten in the backseat due to distractions or a change in daily schedule. No one thinks they could forget a child in their vehicle, but it can happen, and it does happen.
To prevent this, one idea is to put something in the back seat that is needed throughout the day, something like a cell phone, purse, or wallet. Putting something in the back seat will help a caregiver see a child is still in the vehicle.
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