Beat the Heat, Check the Backseat

Beat the Heat, Check the Backseat

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare: an event that many question, “How do you forget a child in a car?” But the unfortunate truth is that even the best parents make mistakes. While it may be hard to understand how this could happen, it is often the result of simply forgetting. In most of these tragedies, the parents or caregivers become distracted with work issues, changing their normal routine, or not typically having the responsibility of daily drop-offs.

On average, a child dies of heatstroke from being left in a vehicle every 8 days. This astonishing fact makes heatstroke the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle-related deaths among children. To combat these staggering figures, Christy Cage, a nurse in Woman’s Mother/baby unit, has come up with a creative idea.

“With recent news events, I began to think that something has to happen to prevent these innocent babies from losing their lives,” says Cage. “We send so many babies home from the hospital each day and parents think they would never do that, but the truth is that it can happen to anyone.”

Cage challenged Woman’s to create a backseat reminder tag that could hang from a vehicle’s rear view mirror to serve as a preventative measure. Cage hopes that the tags will not only help prevent future incidents, but also educate the community about these deadly mistakes.

“We don’t think about it until it happens. That’s why it’s important to get parents thinking early,” said Cage.

The hang tags are free to the public and available at the following locations:

  • Woman’s Hospital: 100 Woman’s Way, Airline Highway and Pecue Lane
  • Woman’s Center for Wellness: 9637 Jefferson Highway (corner of Bluebonnet and Jefferson)
  • Woman’s Health Center for Women – Central: 18901 Greenwell Springs Road, Building 3B
  • Woman’s Health Center for Women – Walker: 5000 O’Donovan Blvd, Suite 509 inside Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group Livingston
  • Hang tags may also be downloaded and printed at www.womans.org/lookback.

For more information about heatstroke and ways to avoid it, please visit www.wheresbaby.org.

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