BY NATALIE GALLENTI
AMBULANCE Victoria paramedics were called out to a Sunshine car park last week after a toddler was locked in a car for up to half an hour.
The call came on a busy day when paramedics were called out to another five similar cases across Melbourne.
Advanced life support paramedic Trish Smith said the three-year-old boy was still locked in the car when they arrived eight minutes after the Triple-zero phone call.
“The boy was quite sweaty and was still in the car when we arrived,” Ms Smith said.
“The fire brigade broke the car’s window to free him.
“His body temperature was also slightly raised so we used a wet towel to help cool the boy.”
The boy didn’t require further treatment.
“His father returned while we were treating the youngster and we tried to explain the dangers to him,” Ms Smith said. Paramedic team manager Alicia Doreian said parents and carers needed to understand that leaving children in the car could lead to fatal consequences.
“Many of the calls appeared to have been a deliberate decision by parents to leave their children in the car,” Ms Doreian said.
‘Tests by Ambulance Victoria found even on a day like yesterday the inside of a car can heat up to 44-degrees within 10 minutes, and reach 60-degrees within 20 minutes.
“That can be catastrophic and unfortunately in the past there have been cases of children dying in hot cars. Leaving them in the car even for a few minutes is not acceptable.”
There have been another two cases where children have been locked in the car in Brimbank in the past 12 months, however on both instances the calls were cancelled and the children did not require medical treatment.
