A grandmother means to drop off three children at school and the fourth at day care but forgets about the young boy in the backseat of her SUV and heads to work.
A day in the hot vehicle takes its toll on the 4-year-old, who dies while his grandmother is at work.
This happened in Brevard in May, and a national social media campaign seeks to make sure the same doesn’t happen again.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Safe Kids have teamed up for a 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. public awareness campaign today on Facebook and Twitter to bring people’s attention to the dangerous effects of heat stroke.
The two organizations are asking people to post or tweet every hour on the hour using the hashtag #heatstroke to not be too forgetful or casual and leave a child in a hot car.
“It doesn’t even have to be a day where it’s 80 to 90 degrees outside,” said Christy Hobbs, Safe Kids Eastern Carolina coordinator. “A lot of people think that goes hand-in-hand, but it’s not. It could be 70 degrees outside, and the inside of that car gets hotter than 103 degrees, and that’s fatal for a child.”
Lenoir County Health Department Director Joey Huff said a small child should never be left unattended.
“Within 20 to 30 minutes, the inside of that car can increase by 30 to 40 degrees,” Huff said. “I think sometimes people can be lulled into a sense of lack of awareness or concern because it may feel a little cooler outside, they think it’s OK to leave the child, and that the temperature will not get as hot, but it does.”
He added that it may be cumbersome or impractical to remove a child from the car while doing an errand like paying for gas, but he said it’s necessary both for the child’s health and safety from potential kidnapping.
If you come across a child in a car in a place like the parking lot of a grocery store, you’re urged to look for the parent or call 911 if the child appears to be in distress.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.