Unfortunately, as summer rolls around again in the United States, so do the endless stories of children left in hot vehicles. This isn’t the first of the year, but as with every tragedy, it is worth mentioning and remembering.

Per news reports, a five-month-old girl was found by her own mother in a van outside the Ewing’s Love & Hope Preschool and Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. Mom called the school for an update on her daughter and staff told her that they had not seen her. The mother herself went to the center, found her daughter in the van, was told by staff that they had no idea how long she’d been left in the vehicle…it’s too much to imagine. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead that afternoon. Per reports, she had been in the van for at least five hours, from 8 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon when discovered.

How can daycare vehicular heat deaths be prevented?

Almost all of these kinds of deaths are preventable. In this case, it wasn’t the standard situation of a parent forgetting her child in a vehicle; here the hired, professional, surrogate parents (because that’s what you are when you’re a teacher; you’re a professional, surrogate parent) did. There is literally nothing the child’s parents could have done to prevent this short of not trusting the school with their children that day, which defeats the purpose of school itself. The school could have prevented or at least significantly reduced the odds of such a death occurring through a number of methods, including a checklist system in which each student checked onto the bus needed to be checked off the bus before the bus driver could lock the vehicle, or through a walk-through system in which the bus driver would walk from the front to the back of the bus before locking it upon his or her return to the front of the vehicle. There are many ways to reduce the likelihoods of these tragedies; unfortunately, they arrived too late for this family.

Who

Fern Thedford, 6 months, died on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 21st, 2016, in Melissa, Texas (approximately 40 miles north of Dallas) due to heat stroke. The heat stroke occurred due to her having been forgotten in a 2011-era Honda Odyssey outside the family home.

Michael Shannon Thedford, 33, Fern’s father, was charged with manslaughter due to leaving her in the family vehicle, where she ultimately passed away. He was held on $20,000 bond, which he posted and was released.

How

Per various reports, Thedford, a substitute teacher at Melissa High School, dropped Fern’s siblings, a 5-year old and 3-year old, at a local daycare at around 9 AM before returning home with his infant daughter. Temperatures at the time outside the vehicle were approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Per Thedford, he forgot his daughter in the vehicle  due to a change in routine; his daughter had developed a fever the night before and could not attend daycare the following day. He parked in front of the house and went inside for a nap, and did not wake for at least 3 hours. He discovered his daughter was missing, and found her unconscious in the vehicle, describing her as “hot as a brick”. In efforts to lower her temperature, he took her indoors and placed her in the refrigerator for a certain amount of time, and then called 911 (at around 1:30 PM). His wife returned home from work and they attempted to revive their daughter via CPR, but were unsuccessful.

Deputies were called to the home at approximately 1:30 PM and discovered the child as unresponsive. Firefighters and paramedics arrived and left, followed by detectives. Thedford described how he had forgotten his daughter to them with a doll. He was later arrested and charged, and then released after posting bond. Todd Shapiro, Thedford’s attorney, described the father’s behavior as negligent but not reckless, per the law.

The official high that day in North Texas was 98 degrees, making it the hottest day of the year thus far.

Why

The story of children dying after being forgotten in hot vehicles (sometimes termed in the media “forgotten baby syndrome”, and more accurately known as “heat stroke” or “vehicular heat stroke”) is unfortunately a common one in the United States, especially in the warmer months of the year. This tragedy involved a 6 month old girl, Fern Thedforth, who was unfortunately a victim of her father’s forgetfulness.

The facts as laid out in this case seem rather straightforward; Thedforth took all 3 of his kids to daycare, but forgot to bring his youngest in with him upon his return. He stated the change in routine led to his forgetting her, which is entirely possible; he was used to dropping off all 3 children, and simply presumed he had done so by the time he’d arrived home. Six month olds aren’t talking yet, and are prone to falling asleep during car rides; it’s entirely possible she hadn’t made a sound when he left her inside, and once he’d left the vehicle (which was parked outdoors) and entered his home, his odds of hearing her would have been reduced to zero. Unfortunately, he also chose to take a nap at the time, and essentially sealed her fate.

Fridge?

His decision to attempt to place her in the fridge upon discovering her in the van may have seemed foolish, but in a moment of panic, was understandable. In situations involving heat stroke and hypothermia, the priority is to lower the body’s temperature to safe levels as quickly as safely possible; immersion in cold water, ice baths, and ice packs are standard recommendations. Would it have been been better to have called 911 first? Absolutely. However, without having direct access to the medical records present, it’s impossible to know how close to death Fern was by the time she had been retrieved from the vehicle; there comes a point (i.e., organ failure) where the effects of heat stroke can no longer be reversed.

Context

This sad scenario occurs far too often in the US. Noheatstroke counts Fern’s death as the 16th child vehicular heat stroke fatality of 2016 so far, and there were 24 in total in 2015. On average, since 1998, there have been 37 deaths per year, with 2010 being the “worst” year at 49 deaths, and 2015 being the best. Each death is too many.

A number of factors in Fern’s death are echoed in the statistics of these tragedies in the US. She was forgotten by her caregiver, which has been the case in 54% of deaths in the last 18 years. Over half of child vehicular heat stroke deaths involved children younger than 2, and 32%, or one out of every 3 deaths, involved children younger than 1, which was also the case here. Of the 16 deaths so far this year, 3 have occurred in Texas, more than in any state besides Louisiana, which has also seen 3 deaths.

Prevention

Every one of these tragedies are preventable. As a parent, the most important priority has to be the child. Things Thedford could have done to have prevented forgetting Fern involve making a point to check each of the car seats before leaving the vehicle, or texting a picture of Fern to his wife after getting home. Having a planned activity involving his daughter for the day, since he knew she would not be attending daycare, could also have kept her alive.

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