'A Miracle:' PSE&G Worker Alive Thanks To Somerville Doctor, Team

SOMERVILLE, NJ — Richard Smekal, who suffered a heart attack and fell from atop a bucket on a PSE&G truck, is alive today thanks to the quick-acting doctors and first responders at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

"Everyone was saying he shouldn't be here. He literally died out there and them bringing him back was definitly a miracle," said Smekal's wife Rosemary.

Smekal, 61, of Little Egg Harbor, had worked as an equipment operator for PSE&G for the past 21 years. On March 30, Smekal was up in his "perch" or "bucket" of the utility truck while he worked on a utility pole on Main Street in Somerville.

All of a sudden he suffered a sudden heart attack and collapsed off his perch and fell straight down to the ground right in front of the office of Dr. Anthony Catanese, a urologist with RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset.

Catanese just so happened to be out for a walk when he saw Smekal fall.

"I was the closest to him. I ran over and stopped traffic in the street," said Catanese. "He had a very slow pulse and then it went away. He had suffered cardiac arrest so I started CPR."

Catanese continued with the chest compressions until Somerville Police and the Somerville Rescue Squad and RWJBarnabas Health’s Mobile Health Services arrived.

Smekal was immediately taken to the Somerset Hospital where he underwent an emergency angioplasty.

Rosemary recalls getting the phone call from her brother-in-law, who also works with PSE&G, letting her know about Smekal.

"I work in Lakewood and when I got the call I ran out of there and shot right up to the hospital," said Rosemary Smekal. "Luckily I didn't get stopped, I was crying the whole way."

Smekal was intubated for a few days and then later transferred to the RWJ Hospital in New Brunswick before being released on April 6.

"He is mobile and walking. He is going through cardiac rehab but has no brain damage. He just has no memory of what happened," said Rosemary.

She repeatedly praised Cantanese for his quick actions and all of the first responders, nurses and doctors. She says it was "God's work" that Smekal is here.

Smekal had just turned 61, two days before the attack and had celebrated his 22 year wedding anniversary on March 20.

"He just happened to fall so close to the hospital and the doctor was out for a walk. It was really a miracle," Rosemary said.

Now she says he will have more time to spend time with his family which include his two sons and two grandchildren.

"They are not throwing dirt on my face yet," Smekal told his wife.

Cantanese was especially happy to hear about Smekal. He noted that so many times a patient comes in and you don't know if they make it.

"The survival rate out of the hospital is under 15 percent in this type of situation," said Cantanese. "It is a great feeling to know he is alive. We see hundreds die but few live. When your number is up it's up and it wasn't this guy's time."

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