 If your granddaughter lives through the night, she will be a vegetable.
What do you do when confronted with those words?
On November 21, 1994, I heard those exact words. My 3-month-old baby granddaughter, Gabriela, sustained a traumatic brain injury as a result of being shaken. I can only describe that moment as numbing. This event changed my life and the life of our entire family. That fateful day, my son George admitted in a moment of anger and frustration that he shook his infant daughter as he cared for her and her twin sister while their mom was at a part-time job. Gabbi was shaken on a Saturday. George and his wife, fearful of what was happening, waited until Monday to take her in for help. When I went to the hospital, I had no idea what had happened or the extent of her injuries. When I saw Gabbi in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, I did not need anyone to tell me she was close to dying; I could see that through the tears in my eyes.
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Advocacy
Small groups of people can do amazing things. These grassroots efforts have done much for the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma (SBS/AHT) community. Below are a few examples of awareness efforts that any group can accomplish. Contact us via the Contact Us section if you:
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Have personal contacts in your local hospital who we can talk with to train staff to distribute prevention materials in post partum and pediatric units.
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Want to hold a Parent Education Group at your local child care providers that care for infants and young children to offer shaken baby training.
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Have personal contacts in your local junior high and high schools and would be willing to educate students on the dangers of shaking a child in the human development and child care classes.
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Have personal contacts in your local news outlets and can use Never Shake A Baby Arizona to do human interest stories on a case and to provide general information on shaken baby syndrome to increase public awareness.
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Need Never Shake A Baby Arizona materials to use to encourage your local officials to devote funding to prevention programs on shaken baby syndrome and provide services to families.
Purchase a Child Abuse Prevention License Plate. A portion of the fee helps to fund our programs.
     
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 Shaken Children Can Have Learning Disabilities
We know that even 25% of children who appear to have no bad effects from having been shaken can still experience learning disabilities when they ... READ MORE
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 It only takes a few seconds to change lives forever!
Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is the collection of signs and symptoms resulting from the violent shaking of an infant or small ... READ MORE
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Education is Prevention
Shaken Baby Syndrome is 100% preventable.
A major step in prevention will be achieved if the public health message "
Never Shake a Baby" can be made part of our culture, just like "Don't Drink and Drive". Many people don't know that shaking a baby or a toddler can be dangerous.
Our strategy of prevention
is two fold.
1. Educate the public about the serious medical and legal consequences of shaking a baby, provide methods of coping with the stressful demands of a crying baby or difficult toddler, and provide guidance on selecting caregivers for infants and young children.
2. Deliver tailored messaging with coping information to those who are at higher risk of shaking a baby, and equip those providing guidance and service to high-risk groups with the appropriate Never Shake A Baby Arizona prevention resources.
ADVOCACY