2026
Welcome from Mo – Morné’s Digital Twin
Hi everyone. I’m Mo — Morné’s digital twin. He couldn’t be with you for this year’s workshop, so I’ve been sent in his place.
Don’t worry — he wrote the speech. I’m just doing the talking.
So, on behalf of the real Morné… welcome to our annual DAN Hotline Workshop.
It’s hard to believe another year has passed since we last got together like this. And when I look back at how the hotline continues to evolve from one year to the next, I think we have a great deal to be proud of.
We continue to improve the way we operate, build our knowledge and strengthen the service we provide. Most importantly, we’re getting better at helping divers manage risk — whether that relates to their health, their fitness to dive, their travel arrangements or making sure they have the right primary cover in place.
Before anything else, though, I want to recognise the people behind that service.
Jack, thank you for continuing to lead our medical team and for always making yourself available — not only to the hotline team, but to our members and divers when they need you.
LaDonna and Lourens, bringing you both on board has been a fantastic decision. The support and expertise you provide Jack and the wider team has added enormous value.
And to all our diving doctors who give their time and expertise to support divers through the hotline — thank you. The level of medical support we are able to provide through this network is something I am incredibly proud of.
To Laurel — you’ve kept this ship running for many years. You run a tight ship, you’re always there when something needs sorting out, and your commitment certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you.
Anike and Bianca, you’ve both become an important part of the permanent hotline team. Anike, your ability to develop resources, improve processes and drive projects forward has been fantastic. Bianca, the commitment you’ve shown to the hotline this year and the support you’ve provided the team has been equally valuable.
And finally, to all our external hotline agents — we simply couldn’t provide the service we do without you. Many of you have been part of this team for years, covering weekends, evenings and shifts when we need you. Your contribution matters, and I want you to know that.
I also think it’s worth reflecting for a moment on just how much the hotline itself has changed.
We operate in a difficult economic environment, in an already niche adventure industry, and DAN sits within an even smaller part of that market. Yet time and again, when divers genuinely need us and experience what the hotline can do, they are blown away by the service they receive.
That tells us something important: what we do matters.
And we continue to build on it.
Our new IT platform will soon give the medical team much better functionality, including greater privacy around medical information and a far better way of capturing medical notes and history. In many respects, it starts giving DAN Southern Africa its own mini medical support and case-management capability.
Our risk-mitigation work has also grown significantly. What started with Laurel introducing travel notifications has developed into a much broader approach involving medical screening, fitness-to-dive guidance and, more recently, working with Gordon and his team to help members understand whether they have appropriate primary medical or travel cover when travelling.
Anike and Laurel are also capturing much of what we're learning so that recurring medical, medication and insurance questions can eventually be supported by better information and more consistent responses.
On the communication side, we now have dedicated WhatsApp channels for DAN Services and the Hotline, our new web-call facility is finally live, and we have introduced the AI assistant on the DAN website.
The web-call function is particularly important for members travelling internationally. If somebody has Wi-Fi or data, they can now call the hotline directly through the website without worrying about international roaming charges.
And our AI assistant gives people another way to get answers to straightforward DAN questions at any time. Importantly, it knows its limits. It doesn't diagnose or replace our medical team. When something becomes medical, technical or urgent, its job is to get that person to one of you.
That really sums up where I think we're heading.
We're modernising DAN, but we're not replacing the human element that makes DAN special. We're using technology to handle the simple things better, so our people have more time to deal with the things that genuinely need their knowledge, judgement and experience.
There is plenty more happening across DAN, from the outreach work Megan and Bianca are doing to several other projects underway, but I’ll leave those for another day.
For today, I simply want to say thank you.
Thank you for your time, your hard work and your dedication. But above all, thank you for your passion for dive medicine and your willingness to be there when a diver or DAN member needs help.
I'm extremely proud of this team and of the service you provide.
I'm sorry I can't join you for the workshop this year, but I'll certainly be there next year.
Have a fantastic workshop. Share ideas, challenge one another, learn from each other — and have some fun along the way.
Good luck, everyone, and thank you for everything you do for DAN.
Don’t worry — he wrote the speech. I’m just doing the talking.
So, on behalf of the real Morné… welcome to our annual DAN Hotline Workshop.
It’s hard to believe another year has passed since we last got together like this. And when I look back at how the hotline continues to evolve from one year to the next, I think we have a great deal to be proud of.
We continue to improve the way we operate, build our knowledge and strengthen the service we provide. Most importantly, we’re getting better at helping divers manage risk — whether that relates to their health, their fitness to dive, their travel arrangements or making sure they have the right primary cover in place.
Before anything else, though, I want to recognise the people behind that service.
Jack, thank you for continuing to lead our medical team and for always making yourself available — not only to the hotline team, but to our members and divers when they need you.
LaDonna and Lourens, bringing you both on board has been a fantastic decision. The support and expertise you provide Jack and the wider team has added enormous value.
And to all our diving doctors who give their time and expertise to support divers through the hotline — thank you. The level of medical support we are able to provide through this network is something I am incredibly proud of.
To Laurel — you’ve kept this ship running for many years. You run a tight ship, you’re always there when something needs sorting out, and your commitment certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you.
Anike and Bianca, you’ve both become an important part of the permanent hotline team. Anike, your ability to develop resources, improve processes and drive projects forward has been fantastic. Bianca, the commitment you’ve shown to the hotline this year and the support you’ve provided the team has been equally valuable.
And finally, to all our external hotline agents — we simply couldn’t provide the service we do without you. Many of you have been part of this team for years, covering weekends, evenings and shifts when we need you. Your contribution matters, and I want you to know that.
I also think it’s worth reflecting for a moment on just how much the hotline itself has changed.
We operate in a difficult economic environment, in an already niche adventure industry, and DAN sits within an even smaller part of that market. Yet time and again, when divers genuinely need us and experience what the hotline can do, they are blown away by the service they receive.
That tells us something important: what we do matters.
And we continue to build on it.
Our new IT platform will soon give the medical team much better functionality, including greater privacy around medical information and a far better way of capturing medical notes and history. In many respects, it starts giving DAN Southern Africa its own mini medical support and case-management capability.
Our risk-mitigation work has also grown significantly. What started with Laurel introducing travel notifications has developed into a much broader approach involving medical screening, fitness-to-dive guidance and, more recently, working with Gordon and his team to help members understand whether they have appropriate primary medical or travel cover when travelling.
Anike and Laurel are also capturing much of what we're learning so that recurring medical, medication and insurance questions can eventually be supported by better information and more consistent responses.
On the communication side, we now have dedicated WhatsApp channels for DAN Services and the Hotline, our new web-call facility is finally live, and we have introduced the AI assistant on the DAN website.
The web-call function is particularly important for members travelling internationally. If somebody has Wi-Fi or data, they can now call the hotline directly through the website without worrying about international roaming charges.
And our AI assistant gives people another way to get answers to straightforward DAN questions at any time. Importantly, it knows its limits. It doesn't diagnose or replace our medical team. When something becomes medical, technical or urgent, its job is to get that person to one of you.
That really sums up where I think we're heading.
We're modernising DAN, but we're not replacing the human element that makes DAN special. We're using technology to handle the simple things better, so our people have more time to deal with the things that genuinely need their knowledge, judgement and experience.
There is plenty more happening across DAN, from the outreach work Megan and Bianca are doing to several other projects underway, but I’ll leave those for another day.
For today, I simply want to say thank you.
Thank you for your time, your hard work and your dedication. But above all, thank you for your passion for dive medicine and your willingness to be there when a diver or DAN member needs help.
I'm extremely proud of this team and of the service you provide.
I'm sorry I can't join you for the workshop this year, but I'll certainly be there next year.
Have a fantastic workshop. Share ideas, challenge one another, learn from each other — and have some fun along the way.
Good luck, everyone, and thank you for everything you do for DAN.