Whether you dive once a year while on vacation or are on your way to becoming a dive professional, the Rescue Diver course is most likely the most beneficial course you will ever take. It will change the way you look at diving as you begin to not only accept responsibility for yourself, but those around you as well. You will learn how to assess situations that have potential to becoming emergencies and how to avoid them, how to respond to emergency scenarios, and also how to employ effective rescue techniques in case an emergency cannot be avoided. The course can be a bit intimidating, but the reward cannot be matched if the day comes where you need to call upon these skills.
The best way to handle an emergency is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Noticing a problem isn’t always enough, sometimes it takes understanding how that small problem can escalate and cause a true emergency in order to eliminate the risk. Rescue Diver training will teach you how to identify many potential problems and how to stop them from turning into an emergency.
When an emergency arises, the way the rescuer responds can mean the difference between life and death. The fastest response isn’t always the most effective. Proper training will help prepare you to respond appropriately to a variety of issues including: missing diver, injured diver, panicked diver, and unconscious diver on the surface and at depth. Being prepared for these events will help you make a quick, and most important, effective rescue.
While the Rescue Diver Course can sound like a lot of work and not much fun, the end result is certainly worth it. Chances are, you will find the training to be much more enjoyable than you expected, and everything you practice you will be able to practically apply to your everyday dives. You will emerge a better, safer, more responsible diver, able to handle diving related emergencies and assist divers in need. Your abilities may even save a life some day, and it’s impossible to put a value on that; making the Rescue Diver Course the most rewarding training in SCUBA diving.
–from the TDI/SDI website–
Wanna be Rescue Diver certified? Click the button to purchase your Rescue Diver Course (books/materials not included – available for an extra fee. See online store for more details).