Training - Stress & Rescue BEFORE AOW

[DenverCoJeff]

Hello Friends and Fellow Divers,

I don't know about the rest of you, but as someone who recently completed the Stress & Rescue course, I found myself wondering why it wasn't before the Advanced Open Water course.

My instructor who has been an active rescue diver in our chilly Colorado waters for 20 years was incredible. Remember hearing about the television helicopter that crashed in a reservoir here many years ago? He was one of the folks who recovered it.

Back to the point.... I love diving. I love the SSI certification. It has been a challenging combination of coursework, pool work, and open water work. I was fortunate to have instructors who practiced the Socratic method of teaching instead of the old dogmatic lecture style. While I was taking the Stress course, I found myself thinking how much I would have benefitted from this knowledge and awareness when I was taking my AOW. I brought up this point with my instructor and he shared that he thought the exact same thing. It seems that the paradigm has been one of each course in a certain order all the way to instructor and beyond.

Admittedly, it is not for everyone, nor should anyone HAVE to take the course, but it seems such a given. After practicing finding an unconscious diver on the bottom, rescuing a struggling or drowning diver, and the fine line between buddy-assist and buddy-rescue, I feel significantly more confident as a diver.

Again, I present this viewpoint as someone who loves learning and plans on becoming an instructor. My instructor shared that the diving industry has been so accustomed to the old paradigm of a certain class in a certain order that it is difficult to change. But the recognition is out there and it is slowly changing now. SSI does not require that you take AOW before Stress, but it can be an instructor call depending upon the diver.

Let the lively discussion begin!

I'd love to hear from anyone in the industry (especially cruise folks - who have to appreciate all the training that a passenger/diver can have).

Jeff

 

[sheck33]

I agree, when i did my CMAS 1* cert back in 87 stress and rescue was part of the class as it should be. As far as i am concerned stress and rescue should be included in the very first certfication you do with whatever organisation. As an OW diver you should be able to assist your buddy, not just yourself. As an OW diver you should be able to bring up an unconscious diver and perform CPR.
A lot of OW divers dive under supervison of instructor or DM but you know what, they are human too and an instructor can pass out or have a problem just like anyone else.

but then again a lot of people only want a certification card so they can rent gear on vacation, the cheaper & faster the better.
I have seen some scary things on my divetrips to warm water destinations i can tell ya. I have been able to prevent potentially very bad situations on more than one occassion.
situations that wouldnt have happened had the diver been trained properly. its sad ;-0

 

[Welshman]

DenverCoJeff

I'm in the process of taking my Rescue Diver course through PADI and for that you have to be AOW certified. However, the only part of the PADI AOW course that really added to my skills was the Peak Performance Buoyancy module and to a slightly lesser degree the Navigation module. Like you I'm learning so much more on the Rescue course.

Chiara's got another related thread on this - the one about back to back certification. Worth a read if you haven't already done so.

Regards

 

[DenverCoJeff]

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Thanks for the great post.

Welshman - I did see the back-to-back thread from Chiara. I guess the PADI stance towards this is part of what I am talking about. Their "programmed" course through diver education. I understand that they may think that these are "advanced" skills, or at least more advanced than AOW, but to me these are skills just as basic as the OW training and certification.

I know that I wouldn't want a dive buddy who hadn't been Stress & Rescue certified. I need to know that his or her skills are up to the task. I have a new dive buddy who just finished the Stress & Rescue course with me and he took it before his AOW. I already took my AOW two years ago, and wish I had taken the S&R before it like he did. His skills are excellent and after I saw how he performed in class (our instructor reminded me of some old drill sergeants I had in the Army), I am happy to have him as my dive buddy locally.

I suppose that for me, SSI allowing and even encouraging SOME people to take the S&R before the AOW is an example of their focus on education. At least how my shop and instructor interpret it. And darn it - I LIKE it.

As an addendum, it may be of assistance to note that body my dive buddy and me are planning on becoming instructors and are dedicated learners and knowledge seekers.

Slainte! (If only the ocean were made of Guiness...) ;-)

Jeff

 

[Dryglove]

I took my stress and rescue through SSI about 6 mos after i got certified.I have to agree it is a great class.I am now in the process of finishing up my advanced courses.A few more dives and ill be done.I would have been done but i got sick on one of the dive days.So far it has been a great course too.Im looking into taking the dive con course next just to further my learning experience and be a safer and better diver.

 

[DenverCoJeff]

Hi Lal,

You have the same classes that I have! I'm glad you have had a good instructor for everything (I'm guessing at that, since you continue to take classes). What do you think of your LDS? Pretty cool place?

I too really enjoy the SSI setup. It has kept me interested, challenged, and I'm on the way to Dive Con which will start in September for me...

Keep on Divin Lal!



Jeff

 

[srkdvr]

My 3 cents, it would be good if eveyone took Stress and Rescue after there OW cert. My wife just got certifed back in the summer of 99, and I was going for my Master Diver card with SSI in the summer of 2000. One of things you needed was Stress and Rescue so we both took it together, it helped her as she was new to diving and it helped me as an older more experienced diver. I saw things that I had been having go through my mind and actions that I was doing because she was new and I was not. So all in all it helped us all, I really enjoyed it and had a bunch of fun with the class and the training..... It also was fun since my instructor had been a Navy SEAL Never knew what to expect.

Rich :mean:

 

[DenverCoJeff]

Hey Rich,

I agree with you. My point was that S & R seems best before the AOW. I know I would have felt like a better prepared diver if I had taken it before my "advanced" classes.

I'm going to have my Master Diver (SSI) with a few more dives and then plan on starting my Dive Con in the middle of September. What did you think of your Dive Con training? Have you been able to do anything with it? Are you working toward instructor?

I'm sure having a former Navy Seal must have been an interesting experience. I know my OW instructor was former military and that as a former Army guy myself, I got his method of instruction.

Keep on Divin!

Jeff

 

[art.chick]

I know you guys have a different structure to your whole set of classes, & I like to hear about it. My OW included some stuff about how to assist buddies in peril & was a good set-up for further education. Yes, it would be nice if every OW prepared us all to a higher degree of rescue preparedness. If SSI is promoting better knowledge of this aspect earlier, I hope it is contagious!

Jeff, you are smart to be paying attention now to what you do & don't like in diver education. I have been finishing up some leadership training (partially under my original OW instructor) & find that watching someone teach is very unlike learning from that person - once you already understand the material, you get to watch techniques & see what students do & don't respond to. I like real-life examples from the teacher, whether personal or the experiences of friends.

Although they say, "This will probably never happen to you," I am starting to see that "never" is a really long time. If u r diving often in a lot of situations with a variety of people, "almost never" becomes "every so often." That's when u r glad you learned this stuff.

 

[seaangel]

OW instruction with SSI covers basic rescue situations and situations that have to be demonstrated in return to the instructor in order to become certified. We had to return demonstrate rescue of a tired diver, a conscious diver in distress, an unconscious diver, and a diver needing rescusitation. I found this to be a very good instruction and drill to do.

Personnally I am extremely happy with the instruction that SSI has given to me. I have a terrific instructor and all of the other instructors at the LDS have all been really good too. I have worked with several there from time to time.

One of the things that they told me in OW was it was not a competition to get as many certifications as fast as possible. As a matter of fact my instructor asked that we go out and get some dives before we start working on AOW. I am the only diver from my OW class that has persued furthering their dive experiences. I have over the last year completed 71 dives, 3 specialties and am working on completing the 4th one. In September I will do my Stress and Rescue class. I then will be qualified for Master Diver.

SSI OW
SSI Specialty Diver: Boat Diving, Navigation, Night & Limited Visibility.
SSI Specialty 3/4 completed: Deep Diving
SSI Enrolled: Stress and Rescue.