Girl, 7, critical after falling from window
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 7-year-old girl was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at The Queen's Medical Center yesterday when her condition worsened a day after she fell from her second story bedroom window.
The girl, identified by a family friend as Amber Delf, was reported to be in critical condition yesterday morning at The Queen's Medical Center.
Paramedics arrived at a home on Wikao Street in Mililani at 2:43 p.m. Sunday after receiving a call that a girl had fallen out of a window. Officials reported that she was playing on a bunk bed in a bedroom when she fell out of a second-story window onto pavement.
Amber was taken to Queen's in serious condition, but was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit yesterday morning after her condition worsened.
Dominica Bautista, a friend of the family who has been living with them for about a year, said she and Amber's teenage sister were home Sunday when Amber and two friends were playing upstairs on the bunk bed. One of the friends yelled to Amber's older sister that "Amber fell down the window," Bautista said.
"She's a very nice little girl," Bautista said. "Very active. ... She likes to play."
Bautista said Amber's father, who is in the military, was working in South Korea and is returning today. Amber's mother, whom Bautista said was at the hospital yesterday, could not be reached for comment.
"It's very hard for her," Bautista said of the mother.
FALL 'VERY UNUSUAL'
State Department of Human Services officials said yesterday they will investigate the case.
DHS spokesman Alan Eyerly said the department's Child Welfare Services branch decided to investigate the incident because "a fall like this is very unusual."
Sunday's incident follows other recent cases where children have fallen, although the previous cases were fatal and involved high-rise balconies.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.