Parenting and trips to the emergency room go hand in hand. If you haven’t landed there yet, I’m sure you will at some point. Most of these ER visits are for serious yet non-life-threatening injuries. But sometimes those injuries and illnesses are life-threatening. When this is the case, a new study suggests emergency rooms aren’t as equipped as they should be to handle pediatric patients, and it’s costing the lives of children.

Kids make up at least 20% of E.R. visits, yet more than 80% of U.S. emergency rooms aren’t as equipped as they should be to handle pediatric patients. Some lack the proper medical equipment for children. Many lack pediatric-specific protocols that would save children’s live. Yet the biggest problem is a lack of training among ER staff when it comes to the type of equipment and protocols that children require.

As a result, more than a quarter of all child deaths following an ER visit were unnecessary and could have been prevented, according to the study. It would cost as little as $207 million a year to bring ER rooms around the country up to par, a drop in the bucket of the nearly $2 trillion health care industry in America. We encourage readers to write or call your local hospital or government representative to urge them to improve these deficiencies.