Ottawa

Toddler deaths spark warning about leaving kids in cars

Two children in Canada have died in the past seven days after being left inside hot vehicles by their caregivers, and in Ottawa, as temperatures rise, health authorities are warning people not to let the same thing happen here.

Local health authorities asking parents, caregivers for vigilance in hot weather

Hot car warnings

11 years ago
Duration 3:18
Local health authorities are warning parents and caregivers not to leave children in vehicles.

Two children in Canada have died in the past seven days after being left inside hot vehicles by their caregivers, and in Ottawa, as temperatures rise, health authorities are warning people not to let the same thing happen here.

three-year-old girl was found unresponsive inside an SUV in Edmonton on Tuesday when the humidex soared to 43. She died later in hospital.

Parent Jamie O'Neil says parents and caregivers should be extra aware to make sure incidents like these don't happen. (CBC)

And last week, a two-year-old boy in Milton, Ont., was found dead inside a vehicle.

Both children were being cared for by their grandmothers at the time.

"School is out at this time, I'm sure there's a lot of change in routine for caregiving arrangements … and people are trying to make that adjustment," said Ottawa parent Jamie O'Neil. "So at times like that you have to be extra aware and have procedures in place to make sure that you're not going to forget and have something as disastrous as this happen."

A handful of cases each year

About five children die in Canada every year from heat-related illnesses after being left in vehicles, according to the Canada Safety Council.

"It doesn't take long, because in 20 minutes the car will be at a temperature that will be unbearable," said Raynald Marchand, the council's general manager.

Heatstroke occurs when a person's core temperature hits 40.5 degrees C.

A child's core temperature rises about three to five times faster than adults because their sweat glands aren't fully developed.

Don't leave children in vehicles at all

"It's very important for people to realize that a minute can turn into several," Marchand said. "Maybe we're just stepping out of the car to go to the bank machine, and the bank machine is out of order. So we go inside, and there's a few people and that will only take five minutes, but then something happens or somebody we know shows up and we start talking. And then 20 minutes have gone by, and now the child is in distress in the car.

"People sometimes think, 'If I drop the window a little bit, they'll be fine.' It does very little. It does not do the trick. So you really do have to take the time to take the pet, the child, sometimes elderly people you have with you in the vehicle."

Dr. Mona Jabbour, a pediatric emergency physician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, said children suffering from heat-related illnesses after being left in hot vehicles is fairly uncommon in Ottawa, but that it does happen.

"People might feel that they're just going to leave the child for a minute, or their child is asleep and they can go do what they need to and come back. But really, it only takes a few minutes for a child to become harmed inside a hot vehicle," Jabbour said.

Police responding to reports of children left inside vehicles do what they have to to get the children out, said police spokesman Const. Chuck Benoit.

People can be charged with abandonment in cases like these, and the Children's Aid Society is usually called in to investigate, Benoit said.