Lakewood has once again been plunged into mourning as news spreads of the tragic petirah of a two-month-old infant. The young child was found unconscious at around 1:45 PM after being mistakenly left in a vehicle in the parking lot of Kollel Cheshek Shlomo on New Egypt Road. Hatzolah rushed to the scene, but were unable to revive her.
The child, named Chana Ahuvah a”h, was named after her grandmother, who was niftar just six months ago at the age of 49, leaving a family of yesomim; this child’s mother takes care of all of them.
An initiative has been launched by Central Jersey Chaveirim to spread child reminder posters all across Lakewood.
This tragedy comes just five days after a similar near-tragedy occurred in Howell and following numerous other horrific incidents in and around Lakewood.
The temperature in Lakewood was in the mid 90’s at the time of the incident.
According to study data from 2001, the internal temperature of a car can reach 100 degrees in just 10 minutes on a day when the air temperature is 80 degrees. After 30 minutes, the inside of the car could be 114 degrees. After an hour, the temperature can reach 134 degrees.
Similar tragedies have occurred in the past few weeks in Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Sderot and other locations.
At least 10 children have died in hot cars across the U.S. so far this year, according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org. Since 1990, at least 1,094 children have died in hot cars, KidsAndCars.org found.
A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s, and children can die when their body temperature reaches 107 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of the pediatric heatstroke deaths reported from 1998 to 2023, about 52% happened because a caregiver forgot the child in a vehicle, according to NoHeatStroke.org, which cited media reports of the deaths.
This incident as a stark reminder of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles, especially during the hot summer months. Even a short period in a hot car can be life-threatening for young children due to their vulnerability to heatstroke and dehydration.
Have a baby in the car?
Put your phone in the back near the car seat
1) you wont text and drive
2) you wont forget your phone… & of course baby
To the family involved my heart goes out to them. Years ago in boro Park when a person was niftar ,a car would go through the neighborhood and with a bull horn advise about time and place. Instead of posters , can hatzolah send a car out with a bull horn to remind parents not to leave children unattended in this weather.
Why so snarky? Hashem who loves this child more then we do orchestrated this, painful as it is. As to your nasty comment, the father being a well respected yungerman in that Kollel very possibly doesn’t even own a cellphone
Get a baby mirror so you can see your baby every time you look in your rearview mirror
I’ve been putting my shoe in the back seat when I put my baby in the back seat. It’s really the best option not everyone will realize when they leave a phone with the baby but no one will ever walk out without a shoe and not realize.
R”L!!
There are so many options nowadays. Parents of little ones, please find one that works for you and use it!
Here are some options I found on Amazon..
Reminder bracelet:
https://amzn.to/3S7J4bM
An in-between option:
https://amzn.to/3zKnjZl
A more sophisticated option:
https://amzn.to/4bORz2m
My heartfelt condolences go out to this family, and I’m praying for them. I posted on my X a reminder and tagged the mayor of NYC in regards to this heatwave in attempts to send out/put out some form of reminder alert in regards to this. Perhaps they should make the phone devices go off like they do when there is an Amber alert for a missing child or something? I’m so so so sorry this happened to this family. THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY WE CAN COMBAT THIS ISSUE THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR JUST FAR TOO LONG FOR ALL FAMILIES AND ALL CHILDREN. My heart goes out to this family again. Pray and mourn. This type of stuff hurts me and hits my heart a whole lot. I take it very personal. Praying that the Justice system in NJ handles this accordingly and in a non bias way.