TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 6 16 16 4. Gaining access to water unexpectedly. "If there is a pool in the home and you're leaving your child there, how is that pool guarded?" Beckworth said. "Is there fencing that surrounds the pool? Are there alarms on windows and doors that keep kids from getting outside unnoticed, or notify you if a door or window opens?" These questions are part of a larger campaign Texas Children's is holding called "The Big ASK." "One of the concerns when children are out of school and parents are working, is parents have to find alternative childcare," Beckworth said. "We're trying to encourage parents to ask those really important questions about where their kids are going to be playing and staying while they are at work." A mom has just buckled her child into his car seat after a lengthy trip to the grocery store when she realizes that some- how, among the dozens of items purchased, she forgot an ingredient she needs to make dinner. Taking her son back into the store seems like an exhausting prospect, so she considers, "Maybe I can just run in real quick. It's not that hot, and it'll only be a few minutes..." Every parent has been in a situation where they just need that one item, and getting a child out of and back into a car seat will make the errand twice as long. Leaving a child alone in a car for longer than five minutes in the state of Texas, however, is illegal—with good reason. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says when temperatures are in the low 80s, the temperature inside a parked vehicle can reach deadly levels in just 10 minutes. This can be especially catastrophic for children, whose body temperature can increase three to five times as fast as an adult. "It doesn't take very long for kids to have really rapid rises in their body temperature because they don't dissipate heat as well as adults do," Prater said. "It's never acceptable to leave anyone who can't care for themselves alone in a closed, parked vehicle. Whether it's someone who is elderly, or a small child, or your pet for that matter." Occasionally, a child is unintentionally left in the car. Something as simple as a change in routine, a different parent dropping the child off at daycare, for example, can result in disas- ter. Especially now that car seats have children facing the rear of the car for longer than ever, forgetting a child in the car is a real possibility for even the most attentive parents. "Put something in the backseat where the car seat is— your diaper bag, your purse, your cellphone—something that you're going to need at the next destination," Beckworth said. "When you get out, you're forced to go to the backseat, and it gives you an opportunity to make sure there's not a child in the car seat." Other precautions include setting an alarm at a certain time every morning to check that a child has been safely delivered to daycare, or making an arrangement with daycare providers for them to call if a child hasn't arrived by a certain time. Additionally, if you're going about your day and happen to see a child left alone in a car, don't hesitate to call for help. "Call 911, stay with the vehicle, and the 911 communicators are trained to help you know what to look for to determine if that child is in enough distress that you need to do something or you can wait until help arrives," Beckworth said. After a couple hours of enjoying a day at the beach, a dad sur- veys his children playing in the sand and surf, thinking it might be time to reapply sunscreen. But some large clouds have rolled in, and as he looks at the sky he thinks, "It's not even sunny out anymore. I can wait a little longer, they won't get burned." "There are two types of rays: the UVB rays give you sunburn and the UVA rays tan you, but the UVA rays also go deeper and cause wrinkling and brown spots and aging of skin," said Carol Drucker, M.D., a professor of dermatology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "The UVA are consistent throughout the day. They're just as strong in the morning as they are at noon and the afternoon." This means it's important to apply broad spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor, or SPF, of 30 or higher at all times of day and in all types of weather. "Broad spectrum indicates that the sunscreen blocks both UVA and UVB rays," said Raegan Hunt, M.D., chief of pediatric dermatology at Texas Children's and assistant professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. "SPF 30 blocks approximately 97 percent of UV rays if applied appropriately. Higher SPF sunscreens block a bit more UV light, but no sunscreen blocks 100 percent." There is no substitute for lack of supervision, especially in today's world, when we're really tied into our phones and get distracted easily. — SAM PRATER, M.D. Medical Director of Emergency Services at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and Emergency Medicine Physician at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center

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