1-year-old dies after being left in hot car outside hospital for 9 hours

A 1-year-old in Washington State died last week after being left inside a car for nine hours while the child’s foster mother went in to work a shift at a local Washington hospital. The

child’s foster mother allegedly forgot about the toddler in the car when she arrived at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash., to work a shift last Wednesday, police tell PEOPLE.

Puyallup Police Captain Don Bourbon says the mother discovered the child in the car after her shift and rushed them inside the hospital. "The child was unresponsive and they attempted

life-saving measures," Bourbon says, but the child did not survive.  The temperature in Puyallup, located southeast of Tacoma, was in the mid-70s that day. However, Bourbon says the

temperature inside the vehicle was over 100 degrees when investigators took the internal temperature. The foster mother is a social worker at the hospital. “A tragic incident took place at

the Good Samaritan campus Wednesday involving an employee and their child,” the hospital said in a statement to PEOPLE. “This incident also impacted a number of our other team members.

MultiCare has offered a number of paths for support for our employees. We extend our condolences to everyone involved.” Bourbon, the police captain, says the woman and her husband, who were

foster parents to the child, have been cooperating with the investigation. KOMO News reports the couple had another child in their care, but that child has now been taken back into the

custody of child services. _WANT TO KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST CRIME COVERAGE? SIGN UP FOR _PEOPLE_'S FREE TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER FOR BREAKING CRIME NEWS, ONGOING TRIAL COVERAGE AND DETAILS

OF INTRIGUING UNSOLVED CASES._ Police say the investigation is still ongoing and once complete, the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office will make a determination whether to file charges.

"We all are hectic in our lives," Bourbon says. "We all have a lot going on. And this unfortunate situation is that, hopefully it reminds us to take a step back and slow down

and just make sure that we are taking care of our families and taking care of each other." At least six children have died this year from vehicular heat stroke, according to the Kids

and Car Safety non-profit organization. And police are urging others to take care of young children and pets, warning against anyone unattended inside a vehicle no matter the temperature.

The Seattle Fire Department says “it doesn’t have to be a hot day for the temperature inside of a car to reach high enough temperatures to cause heat stroke.” A car can heat up 19 degrees in

just 10 minutes, the department adds in its safety guidelines, noting that cracking a window doesn’t help relieve the heat.  “Young children are particularly at risk,” the department says,

“as their bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adult’s.”