If you are going to be any more than a holiday diver - I'd like to see most take thru stress and rescue so that more divers are aware of stress signs and have the ability to help out somewhat in a difficult situation. My wife could never complete the class though due to physical requirements - she has a bad back and could never get someone up a ladder or over the pool edge.
You would be surprised how easy it is to get someone over the edge of the pool when done properly.
My daughters and I took Rescue together and my youngest, a very slight 17 year old was able to life guard lift me (at the time I was 230lbs) out of the pool with next to no effort...the trick is to use the victim's buoyancy and bob them up and down to get them to rise up and then at the peak of a rise pull them partially/mostly onto the deck...then maneuver their legs fully onto the deck and position the body for first-aid/cpr/recovery/shock/etc.
There was no requirement to sling anyone over the shoulder and carry them up a ladder.
We did the final skill assessment in a lake where we had to conduct a rescue of an unconscious diver off the bottom, bring them to the surface, establish positive buoyancy for both victim and rescuer, conduct airway assessment, conduct emergency breathing while towing the victim, removal of gear from both victim and rescuer, removal from water, and finally CPR on land.
We were told 2 things...how we removed the victim from the water was completely up to us, and to survey/acknowledge/and utilize any and all resources at our disposal to include other people. This meant that it was ok to employ another person to help with gear removal while continuing rescue breathing, and it also meant that one could use the help of another remove the victim from the water....for the purpose of commencing CPR it was only necessary to move the victim far enough out of the water that they were supported on land and there was no chance of waves/surge washing over them. The mission is to get to the point of establishing if CPR is necessary and commencing as soon as possible...the victim can be further moved once the situation is stable.
Invariably in a situation where one would actually need to lift the weight of a victim their will be others around...is that definite, of course not, but my money is on others being around.
Your wife should get her rescue cert, there is plenty to learn other than how to get a victim out of the water without pain or strain.
-Z