A Portales, New Mexico mother is speaking out while her two year old daughter remains in critical condition at a Lubbock hospital after being left in a hot daycare van for nearly two hours. Kristen Ashmore said it was Tuesday, July 25, when she received a frantic call from Taylor Tot’s Daycare that her daughter wasn’t breathing.
“They were screaming and crying and I didn’t know what was happening, they were like I’m so sorry I’m so sorry,” Ashmore said.
When she arrived to the daycare, EMS was transporting her daughter as well as a one year old to the hospital that was also left in the van. The one year old died at the Roosevelt Hospital in Portales, and the two year old was airlifted to University Medical Center in Lubbock.
“I try to think back to that day and everything is a blur, I remember I got the phone call and I was hyperventilating, it didn’t hit me until I got to the hospital,” Ashmore said.
According to the Ninth Judicial District Attorney, Andrea Reebs, daycare operators 31-year-old Sandi Taylor and her mother 61-year-old Mary Taylor say they were taking twelve children to the park, and when they came back to the daycare to unload for naptime, they forgot the two youngest in the backseat.
“She was minutes away from just not making it, her body was shutting down and to think I was going to pick her up an hour later, I would have just shown up and she wouldn’t have been there,” Reebs said. “I’m just so thankful to whoever called them, that made them go out to the car and get them.”
Ashmore said it has been incredible to see the community outreach following the tragic incident. The Clovis Chilis is hosting a day to help contribute for the family. There is also a page for the family as well. Something she is encouraging for parents to do is to check the “headcount policy” of a daycare before having your child stay there.
“You do a headcount, that would save so much trouble for everyone, that would have saved that other little baby’s life, and my daughter from being in ICU,” Ashmore said.