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6A Daily News – Monday, June 6, 2011 Vitality & health KANSAS CITY (MCT) — Forty- nine children in the United States died of heatstroke after they were left in hot cars last year, a grim record. But as child-welfare groups try to prevent more deaths with information campaigns and as inventors work on technical fixes, both efforts founder on a hard reality: Good parents don't think it can happen to them. It can, experts and statistics say, and new recommendations on rear-facing car seats could make the problem even worse. The parents of more than half of almost 500 children who died from being left in hot cars from 1998 to 2010 simply forgot their kids were in the vehicles, experts report. At least five children have died so far this year, including three in May in southern states. Two died on May 25, including a 5-month-old girl in Kenne- saw, Ga., whose caretaker forgot she was in the car. Janette Fennell of Leawood, Kan., compiled the numbers for Kids and Cars, her home-based nonprofit, which has become a national leader in child car safety. "They think of the people this hap- pened to as monsters, and they don't put in place the safeguards you should," she said. "If you have the abil- ity to forget your cellphone, you can forget your child." Kids and Cars will soon print "Look Before You Lock" warning tags that will go into take-home kits that hospitals give new mothers. Safe Kids USA recently launched a "Never Leave Your Child Alone in a Car" campaign. A recommendation that the Ameri- can Academy of Pediatrics issued in March might keep kids safer in crash- es but make it more likely that they'll be forgotten in a car. The academy now wants parents to put children in rear-facing car seats in the backseat until they're 2 years old or 30 pounds, Number of children who die in hot cars spikes doing at the moment. He likens it to putting a cup of cof- fee on your car roof while you pull out the keys and get in. It is easy to forget the coffee until it spills down the wind- shield when you drive away. Stress, lack of sleep and changes of routine add to that tendency, he said. A parent might pay so much attention to the stress or what lies ahead at work that he drives right by the day-care center almost in autopilot mode, Dia- mond said. DAMAGED PARENT Mary Parks, whose 23-month-old son, Juan, died in her car in 2007, never thought then that she could do such a thing. The accountant from Blacksburg, MCT photo Ethan McIntosh, of Kansas City, North, 13 months, is buck- led into his car seat. an increase of one year or 10 pounds. The last time experts pushed a new campaign to put more children in rear- facing seats _ in the 1990s, to cut the chances of being killed by air bags _ the number of children who died in hot cars spiked. In fact, more kids died from being left in hot cars than had died from air bags, Kids and Cars reports. David Diamond, a psychology pro- fessor at the University of South Flori- da, shares the worry that extending the time children sit in rear-facing seats will mean that more of them will die of heatstroke when their parents forget they are there. Almost 90 percent of children who died of heatstroke in cars from 1998 through 2009 were 3 years old or younger, Kids and Cars reports, and about three-quarters were 2 and younger. In a multitasking world, Diamond said, their enemy can be the human brain's tendency to focus on what it is Va., tells people her story in memory of her son: Juan and his 4-year-old brother, Byron, had been sick for weeks, so she had been losing sleep. She was usual- ly the one who stayed home with a sick child. But this time she left Byron home with her husband and took Juan to day care, or so she thought. "It's not really that you forget," she said. "I call it misremembering." Somehow she drove straight to work but was sure she had dropped Juan off at the nearby day care. Usu- ally Byron, who was talkative in the car, was also with her, but Juan just quietly went to sleep in the car seat behind her. At the parking lot at work, she grabbed her purse from the front seat, went in and had a normal day. She even told others she might have to take off early to pick up Juan at day care because he was still somewhat sick. When she got there, the staff told her that Juan had never arrived. "I took off running to the car," Parks said. She found Juan limp and pale. On a September day with tem- peratures in the 80s, she knew it was too late. fitness Nutrition Quiz: Test your coffee IQ (MCT) — Great news for those who go on daily coffee jags: A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that the life-giving brew does not boost blood pressure. Take our quiz on what this — and other studies — have found about that cup of joe surgically attached to your hand. 1. The AJCN study says that there's no appreciable difference in hypertension risk even for people who drank how many cups of coffee per day? a) 3 b) 5 c) 11 2. In a study of 12,204 middle-age coffee drinkers, those who reported drinking four or more cups daily had a lower risk of developing what condition than those who "almost never" drink St. Elizabeth Community Hospital and the D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY proudly announce the 2011 Tehama County Medical Guide A reference guide to North State medical professionals and related medical services available to Tehama County residents. •• 7,000 in full-run distribution of The Daily News • 3,000 additional distribution throughout 2011: Red Bluff Chamber of Commerce office/Visitor Center Hotels at Rolling Hills Casino and Red Bluff area Advertisers receive copies for countertop distribution • Online version of this special publication is posted on RedBluffDailyNews.com, all year long, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! This highly viewed online edition reached over 15,000 unique visitors during 2010…don’t miss the opportunity to reach this online audience for 2011! • Digital technology allows viewers to “turn pages” and even click from your ad to your website! Red Bluff and Tehama County Chambers, Tehama County and City of Red Bluff post this special edition on their websites. 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A 2009 Scandinavian study showed that people who consumed three to five cups of coffee daily were what percentage less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease com- pared with nondrinkers? a) 25 percent b) 35 percent c) 65 percent alse; 4: cf ter.com; www.webmd.com. ANSWERS: 1: b; 2: a; 3: Sources: tuftshealthlet-