Rescue Swimming refers to skills that enable an individual to attempt a rescue

Rescue

Rescue refers to responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury during an incident or dangerous situation....

 when a swimmer is in difficulty. These include a combination of communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

 skills, specific "rescue" swimming strokes, and release and evade techniques for self-preservation should the rescue go wrong.

• From the outset once a swimmer in difficulty is spotted, eye contact
  Eye contact
  Eye contact is a meeting of the eyes between two individuals.In human beings, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and is thought to have a large influence on social behavior. Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term has come in the West to often define the act as a meaningful and...
  
   must be maintained at all times.
• Assess the situation: environment, available physical equipment, others who can help, etc.
• Attempt to establish voice
  Human voice
  The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
  
   contact, which if successful can often result in a "voice-rescue."
• A rescuer should enter the water only as a last resort.
• Rescues should be attempted in the following order: talk, throw, reach, wade, row, swim, tow and carry.

see also: Swiftwater rescue

Swiftwater rescue

Swiftwater rescue is a subset of technical rescue dealing in whitewater river conditions. Due to the added pressure of moving water, swiftwater rescue involves the use of specially trained personnel, ropes and mechanical advantage systems that are often much more robust than those used in standard...

There are four main rescue strokes they are the Front crawl (Freestyle), Breaststroke, Inverted Breaststroke, and Sidestroke.