RESEARCH, EDUCATION & MEDICINE

The novel coronavirus pandemic has been one of the most widely life-altering events that many of us have ever experienced. While we have done what we can to adapt to the virus, it will undoubtedly take time to recover from the disruptions to our regular routines – and even more so from the illness and loss of life that have spread throughout our communities, our countries and the world. The importance of spending time underwater, whether as a hobby or a career, has for now taken a back seat to the measures we must take to keep ourselves and our loved ones healthy. For many of us, that means we’ve taken a longer break from diving than we anticipated.

The DAN staff can empathise – we, too, have had to curtail the diving that is part of our lives beyond just being our careers. What we have not done, however, is change anything about our commitment to divers, dive professionals and the dive community. Our dedication to remaining the same company we have always been – throughout the coronavirus and beyond – is as strong as ever.

When federal and state governments began to enact social distancing orders, coming into the office was no longer an option.

Fortunately, most of our operations already had the necessary infrastructure in place to allow working remotely. When it came time to transition, the preparations made by the entire staff allowed us to close the office without interrupting any of our services.

Our medical professionals have since been answering your questions through all our usual channels – email, the online ask-a-medic contact form and your calls to the DAN Medical Information Line – during our regular business hours. The DAN Emergency Hotline continues to operate around the clock and leverage our full capabilities to execute life-saving services. We are also making sure that our members have access to the same level of support as always. Even though we are not in the office, our member services representatives continue to provide our reliable and responsive customer service.

All of this is possible because we invest your membership dues and insurance premiums back into the organisation to provide these services and programmes. In addition to ensuring that our people are available to help you, we are continuing to produce and make available new information and resources. Our diving health and safety publications and recommendations are still being reviewed and revised so that we are always providing you the best information we can to help keep you safe and informed.

As you know, we take our role as a dive safety organisation seriously, and the pandemic meant that we needed to provide you with resources relevant to you, as we do for so many other topics. Our medical and safety experts began working immediately to educate themselves about the virus to make informed recommendations. We launched a COVID-19-specific page on our website, www.DANAP.org/DAN_newsevents/covid-19.php, to be a repository for all related guidelines. There you will find answers to your questions about membership and insurance, our recommendations about first aid training, information about appropriate use of scuba and oxygen units, a guide to disinfecting your dive gear and other topics that arise as the situation develops. We will continue to issue safety guidelines and recommendations to help divers and the dive industry navigate the pandemic. This website represents our staff doing what they do best: taking the lead in understanding a health and safety issue and providing divers with the information they need to keep themselves safe.

The changes we have had to make in the past months are unlike anything we have seen before. Work, school, family and social interaction, community involvement, recreation – putting our health at the forefront has affected all of these and more, many of which are key aspects of diving. We have also seen loss, and everyone at DAN shares the hope that you, your family and loved ones have remained safe and healthy. For those who haven’t, we offer our heartfelt sympathy and condolences.

In addition to the changes to our lives, we struggle with uncertainty in the face of something we don’t yet fully understand. What we do know, however, is that we will eventually come out on the other side of this. We will have undoubtedly been changed, but when we return to diving it will be a relief, it will be joyful, and it will be a reminder of why we have chosen and continue to choose to be divers. In the meantime, be safe and be well, and we’ll see you back in the water soon.