Diving Emergency Specialist ProgramTo Change with Course Revisions

The Diving Emergency Specialist (DES) recognition program is intended to encourage divers to seek continuing diving education. For years DAN statistics have shown that when divers are better educated, they are safer divers.

As DAN Education prepares to streamline courses, the requirements to be a DES diver and a DES Instructor will change as well.

To be a DES diver, one must meet the following qualifications:

• certification as a Rescue Diver and

• certification in DAN Diving Emergency Management Provider (DEMP) or DAN Diving First Aid for Professional Divers, or

• certification in the DAN Basic Life Support and First Aid (BLSFA) or Basic Life Support for Health Care Providers (BLSHCP) course and the three stand-alone DAN courses:

— DAN Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries

— DAN First Aid for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries

— DAN On-Site Neurological Assessment for Divers

To be a DES Instructor or Trainer, one must:

• be certified to teach the DAN BLSFA or the DAN BLSHCP courses and

• have taught at least eight providers in either the DAN DEMP or Professional Divers courses or

• be certified in all four stand-alone programs and have taught eight providers in each course.

Existing DAN DES Instructors and Instructor Trainers will be grandfathered in and will not have to requalify for the new standards.

These new standards will take effect in the summer of 2011 after the program revisions are available. However, both standards will be honored throughout 2011 as DAN Instructors make the transition.

Rest assured that the DES recognition program is not going away; it is a year-round program. Every year in the fall, DAN Education offers a promotion called the DES Quest to encourage more divers to seek education. Watch the summer issue of Oxygen Window for information about the 2011 promotion.

Please email omnidive@gmail.com if you are interested or want additional information.