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Motorist dies in head-on collision that hospitalized two first responders

Two emergency workers remained hospitalized Thursday after a crash that killed the driver of the vehicle that struck their ambulance head on at high speed, the Henderson County Rescue Squad said.

Two emergency workers were seriously injured and transported to Mission Hospital after the crash, which occurred when they were transporting a patient to a facility. On Thursday afternoon one was in critical but stable condition and the other was in stable condition. The patient in the ambulance, who was also injured, was taken by another ambulance to a local hospital and treated and released. The names of the Rescue Squad members and patient were not released at their families' request.

"Our extended family of Henderson County 911 Communications, Henderson County EMS, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue, Henderson County Emergency Management, and the NC State Highway Patrol worked the incident scene and provided excellent care to those who needed it, Rhonda Chislaghi, the Rescue Squad's public information officer, said in a news release. "Henderson County could not ask for better Emergency Services personnel to care for them in their time of need. We could not do this job without each other."
"We want to express our condolences to the family of the driver who was killed," Chislaghi added. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this very difficult time. We also ask that you keep our personnel and the patient we were transporting in your thoughts and prayers. Our department will continue to provide support during this healing process to our injured and their families. We are also providing all our personnel the outlet to talk about this incident with peer support counselors."