Published May 31, 2003
By: John Welsh
Press Enterprise
Riverside, CA
It's hot. We know that. Summerlike heat waves have a way of scorching the Inland area before it's officially summer.
One woman gets more worried when the mercury starts rising. Corona native Tammy Russell is the mother whose 6-month-old daughter, Kaitlyn, died of hyperthermia on a sweltering August afternoon in 2000. Kaitlyn's baby sitter left her in her car seat in a van near Lake Mathews while running into a friend's house. By the time the baby sitter realized she had forgotten about Kaitlyn, it was too late. The baby sitter was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Russell said the pain remains, but she continues converting that pain into energy toward the child-safety campaign -- 4 R Kids Sake -- that she started after her daughter's death. This past week's three-digit days sparked her into action once again, especially after she said she heard reports of three heat-related deaths of children in other states. On Friday afternoon, she shared safety messages with a Head Start group in Baker. "One day it was cool, then it was hot," Russell said in a telephone interview. "It just touched the chord. It pulled at my heart. "This is the time of year I lost Kaitlyn," said Russell, who turns 37 in June. "It makes me think I need to do more, educate more, spread the word more, because it can't happen again." Russell's efforts are spreading nationwide. A Florida firefighter met her last year at a safety conference in Sacramento. Now 10 trucks of the South Walton Fire District display vinyl-cling information signs showing Kaitlyn's picture. "The weather is similar in Florida as it is in California," South Walton Fire Capt. Sammy Sanchez said. "We probably have seven months of warm weather." As hot as it can get, it doesn't take much time for a toddler to suffer hyperthermia, Sanchez said. "You basically have an oven on wheels," Sanchez said of cars in hot weather. So it made sense to adopt Russell's efforts for the area located about 60 miles east of Pensacola. Nearby fire agencies are expressing interest, too, he said. Such safety messages are already attached to public safety vehicles at about 50 agencies throughout the Inland region, said Laura Petersen, Russell's mother, who also does work with 4 R Kids Sake. Petersen is scheduled to appear at a June public safety conference in Orlando. Information is available at: www.4rkidssake.org