Two weeks ago, a driver with an expired license crashed his vehicle on Highway 1 into the ambucycle of Khaled Reshek, a seasoned United Hatzalah volunteer EMT from eastern Jerusalem. The EMT sustained serious injuries, but despite the long rehabilitation the doctors are predicting, Reshek is already yearning to return and “save more lives.”
“I couldn’t have imagined how hard it is,” said Reshek, who is confined to a hospital bed. “I used to treat people and now I am the one being treated. Only now do I understand what the people I have treated went through.”
Reshek’s colleagues from United Hatzalah responded to the accident and treated their friend.
Describing his activity as a first responder before his injury, Reshek said, “I was at all the most difficult events in the city. I responded to many difficult terrorist attacks and hundreds of car accidents.”
Reshek lives in eastern Jerusalem and works at the YMCA near the old city. He longs to return to volunteering soon, despite his physical condition.
“I’m in a difficult situation,” he said. “My whole body is broken. I have two fractures in my spine, a fractured elbow, broken ribs, and difficulty breathing.”
The doctors are saying his return to volunteering will not be happening any time soon. But Reshek remains determined to be back. “Within a month I will be back treating people and saving lives,” he said.
On Thursday Reshek underwent another series of surgeries. He is visited often by his family and many United Hatzalah volunteers.
