Report on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive

DAN – Your Dive Safety AssociationSuunto, Uwatec / Scubapro, Oceanic, Aeris, and the VR-3) are distributingtheir products worldwide with an announcement that their dive computersare compatible with PDE. The Sensus depth-time data logger manufacturedby ReefNet and the Cochran DDR data recorder are also PDEcompatible.Rebreather PresentationSelf-contained re c i rculating underwater breathing apparatus, betterknown to sport divers as rebreathers, have been in use for more than 120years, principally by the military, but increasingly during the past 50 yearsby recreational divers. A PowerPoint presentation on the principals, history,and operating characteristics of rebreathers was made available toDAN members at no cost on the DAN website in 2004.DAN’s Support to the Dive Medical CommunityThrough the DAN Recompression Chamber Assistance Program, DANp rovides training and financial support to re c o m p ression chambersthroughout the Caribbean and other popular dive destinations to ensurethat they remain in operation and are properly staffed. This program complementsDAN’s semiannual dive medical courses for physicians, nursesand other allied healthcare personnel to educate the international medicalcommunity on the proper care and treatment of injured divers.In 1996, DAN broke ground in the field of dive injury treatment and insurance,by creating a Diving Preferred Provider Network (DPPN) of hyperbaricchambers to help manage the costs of recompression treatment andto make it easier for hyperbaric facilities to receive payment for services.In 2002, DAN Services Inc. teamed with Med-Care Plus to offer DANMembers and their families access to a medical savings plan that offers upto 25 percent savings at physicians’ locations, hospitals and medical facilitiesnationwide. The plan is neither insurance nor intended to replaceinsurance, but it does have access for more than 500,000 physician locations,75,000 medical facilities and more than 70 percent of the hospitals inthe United States.The DANRecompressionChamber AssistanceProgram providestraining andfinancial supportto recompressionchambersthroughout theCaribbean andother popular divedestinations.DAN TRAINING PROGRAMSOxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving InjuriesThis course represents entry-level training designed to educate the generaldiving (and qualified non-diving) public in recognizing possible diverelatedinjuries and providing emergency oxygen first aid. In addition,rescuers learn to activate the local emergency medical services (EMS) and/ or arrange for evacuation to the nearest available medical facility.DAN and all major diving instructional agencies recommend that alldivers be qualified to provide 100 percent oxygen in the field to injureddivers.DAN’s <strong>Report</strong> on Decompression Illness, Diving Fatalities and Project Dive Exploration: 2005 Edition 11