DECATUR-Every other week, a child dies when a TV or furniture falls on them. There have not been any local deaths caused by TVs falling on kids just yet, and proactive parents can keep it that way.
Furniture and TVs crashing down on top of kids send more than 22 thousand children a year to the ER. Dr. Maria Granzotti has treated kids injured from falling furniture and TVs
"Head injuries, neck injuries, facial injuries, some chest trauma," Granzotti says. "These injuries can be fatal."
And they have been in our state. One-year-old Shawn Brown was playing in his Chicago house on a Tuesday afternoon when a 100 pound tv fell on him, killing him.
And mom Sylvia Santiago couldn't believe when a falling TVkilled her daughter Janiyah while she slept.
"I just saw her legs under the TV," Santiago says. "You just don't think of televisions or bolting your dressers to the wall."
But doing just that could save your child's life.
"Lots of times they're not secured, they're not fastened to a wall so they're really easy to tip over depending on what's in the dresser or stand underneath," Granzotti says.
So anchoring furniture and TVs to the wall is a safe, quick, and inexpensive fix. And Granzotti says and if your kids are around an unsecured TV, pay close attention.
"Young kids, they've never maybe been a climber before but they can always become a climber."
Because in an instant, your child's life, could come crashing down.
The problem is real. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says over the past ten years, there have been more than 250 tipover deaths, most of those children under the age of five.
If you'd like more info about how to keep your kids safe from tipovers, this is a great resource: http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/09/prevent-a-tv-fall-in-your-house/.
