National statistics show 92 children have already died this year because they were left unattended in a hot car.
In all of last year... 232 children died.
So KSPR decided to illustrate what happens to someone's body inside a hot car with the windows up.
With the help of St. John's paramedics... we did just that this afternoon, under a hot sun.
Before we began our experiment, a St. Johns EMT connected me to a monitor for heart rate... temperature... and oxygen and carbon dioxide levels... just in case.
Then I closed up the window and waited....
"It's an enclosed case and the glass traps the heat inside the vehicle," said Pam Holt, RN, St. John's.
Holt works in trauma prevention.
Ater just a few minutes the temperature inside the vehicle is 107 degrees... my temperature is up too.
"It stopped at 99.2," said EMT Richard Griffin,
Keep in mind heatstoke occurs when your body temperature hits 104 degrees... a temperature of 107 degrees is usually fatal.
After around 15 minutes, the temperature inside the car is up to 110 degrees.
Some of our experts outside expect it's much hotter than that.
They also noticed my slurred speech, they also say I seem a little disoriented.
20 minutes in, our temperature guage says 112 degrees.
"I don't think it's going to pick it up Joe," Griffin said.
My only safety net - a Griffin's check of my core temperature won't work. So it's up to me to stop this if it gets too hot.
"From outside you're looking rough," he said.
I think i'm fine, which makes me begin to question my judgement.
I'm covered in sweat.. I can't imagine how a child would feel in this situation.
"A child has greater body surface area than an adult so the child's body heats three to five times faster than an adult," Holt said.
And I'm not strapped in a car seat, and not panicking like a child might in this circumstance.
Finally after about a half hour - I open the door.
"Just standing your pulse jumped about 40 beats per minute... your blood pressure dropped, Griffin said..
In other words, you're not out of the woods, just because you're out of the car.
That kind of cardiac impact on a child could be devastating.
Heat exhaustion, heat stroke can come on very quickly in adults... For children in can happen five times faster.
St. Johns offers a couple tips:
Put your purse or briefcase in the backseat - anything to make you look in the back seat when you get out of the car.
If you're unloading groceries of anything else - unload the child first.