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A Rochester, New York, daycare center is under fire after forgetting a four-year-old child in the van used to transport kids to and from their homes. She was reportedly left in the vehicle for nine hours amid freezing temperatures.
While the dangers of leaving children in too-hot vehicles are well-documented, a too-cold vehicle also poses a threat to one's well-being. "Just like a child's body can heat to a deadly temperature in a matter of minutes, the reverse effect can happen in the cold," said Sharon Rengers, R.N. from Norton Children's Prevention & Wellness.
She added that due to their small size, children are at a heightened risk for developing hypothermia.
According to WHAM, the incident occurred on Friday when Makyia Artis, 4, was allegedly forgotten in a van outside Living Waters Child Care for the nine-hour school day. She was left by daycare administrators in the morning and only found as children were boarding the vehicle at the end of the day.
When Artis did finally arrive home, she was nearly one hour late, said her grandmother, Brenda Powell, per the news outlet.
"My daughter said she ran to the couch and threw a blanket over herself. She jumped straight under the blanket with her and said she was real cold and was shivering," Powell explained.
Artis herself is the one who informed her family of the incident. She reportedly not only told her mother that she had been left in the van all day, but that she was given $3 to keep the incident a secret.
"Had my granddaughter not told my daughter what happened, we wouldn't be sitting here right now," said Powell. "We wouldn't have known. They wouldn't have told us anything about it."
Powell added, speaking to WHEC, that "the driver supposedly said don't tell mommy that you were left on the bus all day."
Sara Dunbar, the owner of the childcare facility, confirmed that Artis had been left in the van—but said she did not know about the incident until she received a call from the parent.
"We thought this child was absent—I didn't know until I actually received a call from the parent .... So it was a really horrible situation and I would never downplay it," Dunbar told WHAM.
According to WHEC, Artis had been laying down and napping during the drive to the daycare center. Upon arrival, staff members didn't check to make sure she had exited the vehicle.
The monitor on the van reportedly didn't follow the daycare's sign-in procedures that day, so Artis was simply marked absent by staff.
After learning of the ordeal, Dunbar immediately reported it to the state, fired both the driver and the monitor who was involved and went to Artis' home to apologize.
However, while administrators from Living Waters confirmed the incident, they claimed to WHEC that the $3 given to Artis was not intended as a bribe.
"I guess in the process of transporting her home, the driver, because he does have a compassionate heart he stopped to get her something to eat and he took her home," said an unnamed administrator, per the news outlet. "He did give her $3.00 but it wasn't a bribery."
Medical professionals who examined Artis said she did not show signs of hypothermia or other symptoms of cold exposure due to the incident.
Her family has reportedly already found her a new daycare center.
Newsweek has reached out to both Living Waters and the Rochester Police Department for additional comment.
