Vancouver parents Jason Cunningham and his wife Becca thought they had done everything they could to childproof their home. They installed child-proof locks on cabinets, installed mesh on their deck railing to keep their kids from falling or getting stuck, and kept any and all chemicals out of reach and locked up.
But there was one thing they didn’t think of: guarding their windows. A day before their son Thomas’ fourth birthday, he fell from a third-story window after pushing through the screen. He suffered traumatic head injuries and spent eight days in a medically-induced coma to prevent further brain swelling.
It’s a horrific event that is every parent’s worst nightmare and one they hope never to face. But every year an average of eight children aged five and younger are killed nationwide – and another 3,300 hospitalized – after a fall from a window.
Window safety has become a rising concern in Oregon and Washington. As recently as May, a Kelso boy was hospitalized after falling from a second-story apartment window. He has since recovered, but the importance of window safety education remains.