Every year, children die in Israel due to car forgetfulness. The equation is that on one side there is Israel's extreme heat, and on the other side we all think it can't happen to us – and the result is disastrous. Every year, children die as a result of car forgetfulness - an unnecessary death, which could have been prevented.
Summer in Israel is known for its extreme heat. Every year in the summer, we receive difficult cases of children who were forgotten in the car. Every summer we prepare in pediatric emergency departments to treat these cases of children arriving in critical situations, with their bodies literally burning with heat and their body systems collapsing. We prepare, but we pray that this will not happen, that they will not come - because we know that in most cases children who are forgotten in the heat in the car for a few hours, their fate is sealed and there is no one to save.
Prevent the next disaster. Forgetting Children in the Car, Illustration, Photo: Ancho Ghosh-Ginny
When a baby or young child who falls asleep while driving, or is busy playing quietly and does not pay attention to what is happening, is left in a closed car on a hot day, temperatures rise rapidly and the body gradually reacts: first it loses fluids. Then loses salts. Then it loses the ability to regulate body temperature - and the heat begins to climb to uncontrollable levels. The thirst is increasing, the body hurts, everything around it becomes hot and there is nothing to hold on to, the kidneys collapse, after which there is a feeling that the air is over, consciousness fogs up and in the end the heart stops beating - this is a course of death in agony.
It is important to understand that the softer the child and the warmer the day - the faster the damage happens. Temperatures in a closed vehicle in the sun can soar in a short hour to a state that does not allow the body to cope.
Make it a habit to leave your bag or phone in the back seat, Photo: GettyImages
According to 2022 data from Beterem, 20 children have died as a result of being forgotten or trapped in a car in the past five years, and in 2021 alone, six children lost their lives as a result of such incidents.
Any such case is an unnecessary case that should have been prevented. Car forgetfulness is something that should not happen to anyone. No child. Never. Cases that cannot be regretted, and the soul is unable to forgive them.
The steps to prevent children from being forgotten in the car are simple and can be followed immediately:
- Every time you get out of the car, make sure you don't forget anyone behind.
- If the car is parked in the yard, make sure it is locked and cannot be entered without you noticing.
- Install a system to prevent children from being forgotten in the car.
Make it a habit to leave your bag in the back seat or your phone that you don't need to touch on the road anyway, or any other method that will make you check the back bench at the end of each trip.
I hope that if each and every one of us thinks about it every time he or she gets out of the car, we will go through an entire summer without seeing these cases in the emergency room. Let's avoid the next incident and get through this summer safely.
The author is Dr. Oren Feldman, Director of the Pediatric Medical Center at Safra Children's Hospital.
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