"There are a lot of patients who need specialized care or even higher levels of care and it’s really important that in this rapidly growing community that we have that available to these families," said Dr. Hogan, pediatricitian at Cook Children's Pediatrics Prosper Trail.

Dr. Hogan is one of 24 Cook Children's pediatricians currently treating patients in this region of North Texas. She says patients like hers need a place to access specialized and emergency pediatric care without having to drive 30 minutes to an hour away from home.

"A lot families have hardships and are not able to drive that far, or take off work all the time to go to these visits, and having this inpatient hospital and specialized care right her will make it easier for all the families," Dr. Hogan explained.

Construction of Cook Children's Medical Center North is in the initial phases with plans to have a full service hospital completed in 2022. The new hospital will be located on a 23-acre site in Prosper at Windsong Parkway and Highway 380. Having started in October of last year, phase one is already underway with plans to open a primary and urgent care clinic in the fall. An outpatient surgery center and specialty clinic with imaging and lab services will open in 2020.

"I'm really excited about the hospital opening up and being able to refer my patients to specialists, right here in Prosper, and being able to send my patients to get the specialized care that they need, having higher levels of care right across town," said Dr. Hogan. "I think that is going to be really wonderful for the families here."

Currently, Cook Children’s operates eight primary care offices in and around the Town of Prosper. The expansion near Windsong Ranch marks the first time in Cook Children's 101 year history that a full-service hospital has been built outside of Fort Worth.

"Just like the Town of Prosper is family, a close knit community, so is Cook Children’s," said Dr. Hogan. "We are all here wanting your children to be healthy and do better in life and be able to get the care they need to grow up to be happy and healthy adults."

According to noheatstroke.org, 32 children have died in the U.S. as a result of being left in a car. In all of 2015, 24 kids died.

On Sept. 21, 2016, a 7-month-old baby died in a hot car in Huntsville, Ala. The temperature was 94 degrees. The following day, a 4-month-old child died in Geronimo, Okla. The temperature at the time was 96 degrees.

As anyone who lives in a state like Texas can attest, summer-like temperatures can occur even in winter. But it doesn’t take a scorching hot day for a child to be in danger. Heatstroke deaths have been recorded in 11 months of the year in nearly all 50 states.

“It truly doesn’t have to be a ‘hot’ day in Texas for a death to occur,” said Dana Walraven, Community Health Outreach manager at Cook Children’s and Safe Kids Tarrant County coordinator. “The temperature inside a vehicle can quickly climb over 20 degrees hotter than outdoor temperature. So even a cool day in Texas can become dangerous very quickly. Since children’s body heat rises three to five times faster than adults, it’s important to know that temperatures can become deadly any time of year.

Heatstroke, also known as hyperthermia, is the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle-related deaths for children. It occurs when the body isn’t able to cool itself quickly enough and the body temperature rises to dangerous levels.

Young children are particularly at risk as their bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adult’s. When a child’s internal temperature gets to 104 degrees, major organs begin to shut down. And when that child’s temperature reaches 107 degrees, the child can die.

Because of this, and because cars heat up so quickly – 19 degrees in 10 minutes – tragedies can happen faster than you think. Symptoms can quickly progress from flushed, dry skin and vomiting to seizures, organ failure and death.

“We still have to get the word out that there’s never a safe time to leave your child in the car,” said Sharon Evans,Trauma/Injury Prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s, said. “We’ve seen children die in February. We hope people will take extra precaution in never leaving a child in the car.”

Safe Kids Worldwide says that heatstroke is the leading cause of non-crash, vehicle related deaths for children and that young children are particularly at risk as their bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adults’.

It’s hard to imagine someone forgetting a child is in the car, but human error, and people make these mistakes during their busy day-to-day lifestyle. Safe Kids recommend the “ACT” method to prevent tragedy to your child or to a child you see left in a car:

• A: Avoid heatstroke-related injury and death by never leaving your child alone in a car, not even for a minute. And make sure to keep your car locked when you’re not in it so kids don’t get in on their own.
• C: Create reminders by putting something in the back of your car next to your child such as a briefcase, a purse or a cell phone that is needed at your final destination. This is especially important if you’re not following your normal routine.
• T: Take action. If you see a child alone in a car, call 911. Emergency personnel want you to call. They are trained to respond to these situations. One call could save a life.

For more information

Cook Children's partners with the community to raise awareness and meet learning needs centered around injury prevention and child safety equipment. Read more about it here.