Articles Posted in Injuries to Minors

A recent article in the Homes & Gardens section of The Oregonian noted something that many readers might not know: home inspectors can and do offer advice that goes far beyond highlighting things that need fixing in a house that is about to be sold.

The paper quotes Nick Gromicko, author of The Safe Home and a certified Home Inspector, saying “I wrote the book after realizing consumers mistakenly believe they are hiring a home inspector only to find defects in systems and components… more often than not, the home inspector alerts the consumer to safety concerns.” The article goes on to offer important tips on crib safety, preventing furniture hazards that might crush a child (such as an entertainment center or bookcase tipping over), preventing window falls, safety gates and the child-proofing of stairs and railings. All tips, in other words, designed to reduce or eliminate injuries to children.

Some of these are essential tips I have written about before, such as installing window stops to prevent children from squeezing through an open window, or a reminder that safety gates are of little use if they do not meet recognized national standards. Other advice, however, falls into the category of ‘things that ought to be obvious but sometimes aren’t.’ For example Gromicko’s reminder that parents should “ensure that… any furniture a child could potentially climb on should be moved away from windows.”

The death earlier this month of a six-month old Hillsboro girl whose father forgot that she was in the back of his car when he went inside his office for work is a sad reminder of a problem that is far more extensive than most people think. As The Oregonian put it last weekend, “though the tragedy that played out in Hillsboro… is incomprehensible to many, research shows it’s a scenario that has played out hundreds of times nationwide since the late 1990s as parents and caregivers grapple with a growing litany of distractions.”

This Oregon child death is also a reminder, as SafeKids tells parents every year (see link below) around this time, that even as the weather turns cooler a closed car can still become very, very hot as it sits in the sun for hour after hour.

“In the United States, at least 635 children have died of hyperthermia in vehicles since 1998. In 51 percent of those cases, the parent of caregiver said they had forgotten the child was inside,” the paper reports, citing data from an expert on the subject at San Jose State University in California.

A mysterious outbreak of E. coli here in Oregon has left one child dead and resulted in injuries to two others, leaving parents and public health officials alike struggling for answers here in the Pacific Northwest.

As The Oregonian reported last week “all three children – ages 3, 4 and 5 – were at birthday parties in Lebanon on August 23. All three were exposed to recreational water and ate watermelon. All three suffered kidney failure.” Though it is worth adding that the children were not all attending the same birthday party (two were at one party and the third child was at a different party) the similarity of the cases does raise significant questions, particularly whether something in the food they ate may have been tainted.

As the newspaper notes, in the wake of these injuries to several children state health officials in both Washington and Oregon have been interviewing the parents as well as other adults in an effort to track and isolate the cause of the outbreak. “Without a solid culprit, such as an undercooked hamburger, epidemiologists can link cases with DNA tests on the bacteria,” the paper notes.

As anyone who has watched the news over the last few weeks knows hot car deaths have once again been commanding attention this summer. Consider this one of those things regarding Oregon injuries to children that should not need to be said but, unfortunately, needs to be reinforced as we approach the hottest time of the year. As SafeKids Oregon reminds us all: “Hot weather and vehicles can be a deadly combination.”

The group’s latest news release continues: “There have been no overheating deaths in Oregon since 2004. Regrettably, 17 children have died from being left or trapped inside hot vehicles nationally in 2014 alone. In addition, there have been many ‘near misses.’” That national number is especially shocking when one considers that there is at least another six weeks of hot weather remaining pretty much everywhere in the country.

As they so often do, SafeKids offers easy and common sense advice on the best ways to avoid trouble. However, in addition to tips that are common knowledge – such as the fact that on a hot day the temperature inside a sealed car can rise by 20 degrees in just 10 minutes – they also offer some warnings that may come as news to many readers. Specifically, many people might not be aware that “cracking a window does little to keep the car cool.” This is an important point because it contradicts what many people think they know about hot cars and summer weather. Similarly, many readers might not be aware that the temperature outside need not be especially ‘hot’ for hot car deaths to occur. “With temperatures in the 60s, your car can heat up to well above 110 degrees.”