With summer underway, window falls will be on the rise, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, said Amber Kroeker, the child injury prevention program supervisor at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. That’s because Pacific Northwest summers are cool enough that many homes don’t have air conditioning, which means that open windows are a primary source of cooling a house down.
“It’s a momentary lapse of supervision,” Kroeker said. “Parents think the child knows better or won’t climb up on that dresser placed next to the window.”
Kroeker explained that parents think lots of dangers lurk around children, such as fire risks, and understand the importance of car seats and life vests. But she said window safety is one of the most overlooked dangers.
That might be changing though, Kroeker said, as advocacy around window safety seems to be making a mark in the Northwest. After averaging about 50 window falls per year in Oregon over the last few years, that number settled around 25 falls last year, Kroeker said.
