Diveheart Introduces Scuba Diving to Divers with Disabilities

Adults, children and wounded veterans were given a taster of scuba diving last month as the Diveheart Foundation provided a week-long instructor/ buddy training event at the Caldwell Community Centre in New Jersey, U.S.

Ian Brown, an injured veteran and certified advance rescue diver was able to return to scuba diving after suffering a lumbar injury. He took the plunge with his fiancée, Ivonne Trancon, who had never tried the underwater sport before.

"To be able to participate in events with loved ones and do something on an even level is heart-warming," Brown said.

"Diveheart and Pristine Azul were great, facilitating and making it safe and easy."

Founder and president of the Diveheart Foundation, Jim Elliott, set up the organisation after teaching his blind daughter to downhill ski and seeing the benefits of her increased confidence.

Elliott is a certified scuba diver, and he soon realised how powerful and therapeutic scuba diving can be to disabled people and he was keen to help others.

He has devoted his time to Diveheart since 2001, and has since taken the charity around The Caribbean, Australia, China and Mexico with the help of the International Rotary organisation.

"My payback is to see people with severe disabilities become independent, when they come up from the water with a smile, and realise if they can do scuba diving, they can take on other challenges," Elliott explained.

The training programme includes classes for scuba diving instructors who learn about various disabilities, and confined water training where buddies dive as a paraplegic with their legs tied and as a blind diver with a blackened mask. The disabled scuba divers are then partnered with a trained buddy for one-on-one scuba diving sessions.

June Stahl, a Diveheart volunteer received her buddy training and said: "I love scuba diving, and to be able to share it with people who never thought they could is amazing."

Once trained, the disabled divers are then able to take the next step which includes planning scuba diving holidays in exotic destinations where they will have the chance to explore the beauty of underwater world in remote locations. Popularscuba diving destinations include the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Caribbean, Florida Keys and the Red Sea.

Joe Norton, the Caldwell Councilman for the Council Chairperson of Community Relations added: "This is a great day for the Borough of Caldwell and, most importantly, the participants in the event. This is something to be admired, to be able to live a full life and to see what the human mind and what individuals can do."