Mother said she forgot about her son while she was shopping
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, MAARIV ONLINEModi'in Illit infant in car(photo credit: UNITED HATZALAH)
A six-month-old baby was found unconscious by his family in a car on Hazon Ish Street in Modi'in Illit, after he was apparently forgotten for several hours. His death was later determined at Assaf Harofeh Hospital.United Hatzalah volunteers were on the scene Monday where they found a 6-month-old baby locked in a hot car. The baby’s mother told first responders that they left the baby in the car Monday morning, according to a report from Ynet. When they went back outside, they found the baby and called the EMT's. The baby was not breathing.People at the site of the emergency brought the baby into a nearby synagogue building and provided him with initial aid.When the emergency crew got to the scene, the baby was not conscious or breathing, and he was showing signs of heat stroke. They attempted to resuscitate the baby and did CPR for nearly a half hour. They then took the infant to the Assaf Harofeh Hospital in critical condition, where doctors tried to save his life.“This is a tragic and difficult event,” said Magen David Adom paramedic Uri Gavriel and emergency medic Shmuel Munk. “We saw a car with open doors from which a six-month-old baby was taken after being in a closed vehicle."Aharon Waldshtein, a medic at the Rescue Union, said, "According to the family, the toddler, who was about six months old, was forgotten in the car in the morning and when he arrived at noon he was in a car without a pulse and breathing.”United Hatzalah wants to remind all parents and caretakers to "never leave an infant or small child unattended in a car, not even for a second, and always make sure that no one is left in a vehicle by themselves when leaving the car."They also are asking all people to keep an eye out for kids inside parked cars and to call 101 or 1221 if they see anything. With the hot summer, they do not recommend staying in a parked car without the car on for any length of time.Data from the “Beterem” organization for children's safety indicates that between 2008 and 2019, the media reported 801 cases of children being left alone or trapped in a vehicle. Thirty of these cases resulted in the child’s death. In 76% of the cases, the children were under 3 years of age.Michal Bar-Doron, deputy director of Beterem for children's safety, said that car forgetfulness is particularly dangerous during summer months. "We are in the midst of summer vacation, when routine is broken,” she said. “Studies show that car forgetfulness occurs primarily during periods of out of routine, when the parent is troubled, tired or distracted.”
Bar-Doron explained that distracted parents can enter the “automatic driver” mode, in which they make mistakes and forget about their precious cargo. “It is important to understand that this can happen to each of us, and therefore we must adopt safe behavior habits,” she said. “At the end of the journey, always make sure that no child is left behind: leave the bag in the back seat, send reminders to the other parent after a trip or any other habit that will make you forget the children.
