Public hearing on window fall prevention May 12 in Chicago
May 9, 2003 — Children's Memorial Hospital, Injury
Free Coalition for Kids of Chicago and State Representative Daniel J. Burke
(D-Chicago) have joined ranks in undertaking an initiative called Stop the Falls, a public education
campaign to reduce window fall-related injuries and death to children in Illinois.
Karen
Sheehan, MD, MPH, attending physician, Children's Memorial's Emergency
Department, is Medical Director of Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Chicago
based at Children's Memorial.
"In Chicago, at least two to three children a week are hospitalized due to
window falls during the warmer months," said Sheehan. "Over the course of a year
in Chicago we see about 50 children who have fallen from a building — most from
windows." Sheehan treated a child who fell out of a window as recently as
Thursday, May 8.
Throughout Illinois, the overall fall rate per year for children under age
five is 8 out of 100,000 — which includes falls from buildings, windows and
other heights. Nationally, approximately 4,700 children under the age of 14 are
injured or killed due to a variety of falls.
Sheehan and her group recommend the following preventive measures:
- limit any window opening to no more than four inches
- purchase child-safety window guards; they are easy to install and
releasable in case of fire or other emergency
- modify your home to make windows less accessible, i.e., move furniture
away from windows
"Window falls prevention was addressed through a health education program in
Boston that resulted in an 83 percent decrease in falls from windows since 1993
so we believe it can happen in Illinois too," said Sheehan.
Sheehan will be testifying at an Illinois Legislative Forum on Window Falls
chaired by Rep. Burke on Monday, May 12, at the James R. Thompson Center where
Judi Conaghan of Wilmette, whose son fell from a window, will join her.
Said Burke, "Knowing that 100 percent of these falls can be prevented, it is
our responsibility to make parents aware of this leading cause of injury for
children in the State of Illinois."
"It doesn't matter if you live in an apartment in Chicago or a house in rural
Illinois - window falls can happen anywhere," added Sheehan. "Our long-term goal
is to ensure that the appropriate safety measures are implemented on all windows
in homes where young children live or visit so that no child falls from a
window."
For more information, call Public Affairs and Communications at 773.880.4500
or send an e-mail to Julie
Pesch.