More than 5,000 U.S. children and teens are injured each year in falls from windows, according to a study that suggests the problem stretches beyond urban high-rises. The research found many children fall from first- and second-story windows. “This is more than just a big-city problem,” said senior author Dr. Gary Smith of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Suburban mother, Beth Harlan, knows that to be true. Two years ago, her daughter, Sidney Dillon, then age 6, fell from a second-story window in their home in Galloway, just west of Columbus. The girl was sitting on the sill and leaned against the window screen. Harlan walked into the room as the screen gave way.
“I came upstairs just in time to see her falling out the window,” Harlan said. Luckily, Sidney fell into a bush and fresh landscaping mulch. An X-ray ruled out broken bones. Still, the accident frightened both mother and daughter. “Don’t ever think that kind of thing can’t happen to you,” Harlan said. “Never in a million years, when I opened up the window, did I think my kid would decide to sit in a windowsill.” Harlan’s daughter was older than the typical child who falls. Preschoolers are at the highest risk and they suffer more head injuries than older children. “Two-thirds of these injuries occurred among children younger than 5. This is the age group that’s mobile, curious and does not recognize the danger of falling from a window,” Smith said.
