Seattle-area children falling from windows with alarming frequency

Simone Pace was entertaining a dinner guest in her Mercer Island home last month when she caught a glimpse of something falling and heard a blunt thump on the deck outside.

It took just a moment before she realized what had happened: Pace's 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, had fallen out of a bedroom window, face-first into the wooden deck two stories below.

"When she hit the deck, I'll never forget that sound. It was this dead weight," Pace said.

Every year, as the weather warms and parents open their windows, dozens of young children — like Pace's daughter — are rushed to local hospitals after suffering falls from windows and balconies.

The incidents have become so common at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center that some emergency-room employees have coined a grim nickname for these patients: window jumpers.

"Many of these kids are under the direct supervision of a parent when this happens. It's not neglect," said Brian Johnston, chief of pediatrics at Harborview. "A window has a screen on it, which gives the family a false sense of confidence."

Harborview treats about 40 to 60 such cases each year, and about a dozen in the last two weeks alone.

In fact, Pace said Olivia shared a hospital room with another young child who had fallen from a window.

Doctors at Harborview Medical Center, where Olivia was rushed after the fall, found that she had fractured her skull and was bleeding from her spleen and her brain.

After a few days in the hospital, she was released and is expected to make a full recovery.

Olivia was watching the movie "Bambi" in the upstairs master bedroom when the accident occurred.

Pace suspects the girl leaned into the window screen to take a quick glimpse of their view of Mount Rainier.

"Parents think that since they have a window screen in, that's protection," Pace said. "But the screens are meant to keep bugs out, not kids in."

Window screens are generally designed to pop out with ease to allow for quick escapes during fires. Even a small child leaning against a window screen can provide enough pressure to knock it out.

To prevent similar accidents, child-safety experts suggest keeping furniture away from windows, installing window guards to block kids from falling out and buying window stops to prevent windows from opening fully.

Though her child's injuries are healing, Pace said Olivia's memory of the fall might not fade anytime soon.

"We were by the window and she said, 'Mommy, we have to make sure the windows are closed so I don't roll out again.' "

Robert Faturechi: 206-464-2393 or rfaturechi@seattletimes.com