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Alex Cabrero Reporting The temperatures go up, the house gets warm, it's too early to run the air conditioner so the windows come open. It's a rite of spring.
But it's wrong if young children have access to the windows, especially if the windows are on a second story or higher. A child was taken after he fell from a window today. It happens more often than you’d think.
After getting some numbers from the Utah Department of Health it's clear it’s something all parents should be aware of. The hospital definitely isn't a place you want your child to end up.
Parents love surprises from their children, but the surprise one West Valley mother got today was something she never wished for.
Sgt. Steve Angell, West Valley Police Dept.: “It looks like it was a blow to the head..”
The mother didn't see her son fall out of his second floor window. Her neighbors did.
Sgt. Steve Angell: “They went over and alerted the mother. The mother was not aware of it.”
It seems the four-year old was jumping on his bed when something went wrong and he fell through the window.
Cyndi Bemus works with the Utah Health Department and hears about these types of injuries all the time.
Cyndi Bemus, Utah Dept. of Health: “The key is, whether a boy or girl, parents need to be there at all times and that’s the toughest job. It’s hard to be a parent.”
Hard but necessary. Earlier this month a two-year old Magna girl suffered head injuries after falling seven-feet through a window. Last August a two-year old in Park City fell three stories out a window. And in 2003 a 19-month old in Riverton fell out of a second floor window after jumping on her bed.
But those are only three examples in Utah. According to the Department of Health, from 1999 to 2003, 43,000 children ages 0-to-4 went to the emergency room with some type of fall injury, whether a window, climbing furniture, or some other type of fall. For children ages 5-9, there were 26,000 ER visits.
Supervision is key, as Cyndi said, but it's hard to do that every minute of every day. Three easy ways to try and make it safer: maybe get some mulch outside the window to soften any falls, keep beds and furniture away from the window, and buy stronger windows that won't break as easily.
