Look Back
For Car Seat SafetyChild Safety Reminder Tags
While many people are aware of the high temperatures reached during a Louisiana summer and the serious risk that comes with leaving a child in a vehicle in these conditions, it only takes one mistake for devastating consequences.
- The temperature in a car can rise 20 degrees in only 10 minutes.
- A child’s temperature heats up to five times faster than an adult’s.
- The risk of dying from a heatstroke in a vehicle is increased when a child i s too young to communicate.
In an effort to prevent hot car-related injuries and deaths, Woman’s Hospital is suggesting backseat reminder tags to families as part of our child safety public service campaign.
While the hang tags are not intended to replace parents’ alertness, they serve as an extra reminder for parents to check for their child in the backseat.
Hang tags may be downloaded and printed
The magenta reminder tags are free to the public and available at Woman’s Hospital, Entrance 1 information desk.
A rear facing car seat looks the same whether your baby is in it or not making it easier to forget. The bottom line is to create some reminder for yourself every time.
The idea to distribute the awareness tags came from Christy Cage, a nurse in Woman’s Mother/Baby unit. Cage, who cares for mothers and newborns and often escorts them to their car for the their first ride home, felt like there was a need for education on this often overlooked problem. “We don’t think about it until it happens. People often form opinions and think it would never happen to them, but the truth is that it can happen to anyone. Let’s work to make the community aware!” says Cage. Cage continues that she would like to see the program expand far beyond Baton Rouge to reach as many people as possible, even those across the county.