By Quincey Reese
The Tribune-Review, Greensburg
GREENSBURG, Pa. — Greg Yurcevich does not remember Sept. 2.
He does not remember going to the home of a Penn Township woman to install her front door, going into cardiac arrest and ending up at the hospital for a week.
“It’s all kind of foggy until I came home,” Yurcevich said.
But because of Penn Township first responders, Yurcevich, 56, returned safely to his Southwest Greensburg home on Sept. 8 with no long-term effects.
Jeff Wess, prehospital care coordinator at Allegheny Health Network Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, said less than 15% of people who suffer a cardiac event outside the hospital survive with positive neurological outcomes.
“Mr. Yurcevich is one of those fortunate few. And that doesn’t happen by happenstance,” Wess said. “It happens because the stars align and a lot of very good people do a lot of very good work, and that’s what happened in this situation with Greg.”
The Penn Township woman found Yurcevich lying on the ground and called Westmoreland 911 at 3:19 p.m.
Police officer Chad Meyers arrived on scene first and began performing CPR. A township ambulance crew — EMT Alexis Clayton and paramedics Jess Gregory, Justin Kobularchik and Mike Keszer — arrived shortly, just four minutes after the call was made.
Yurcevich was stabilized around 3:30 p.m. and delivered to Forbes Hospital 20 minutes later. He spent three days in the intensive care unit, received a coronary stent and was sent home two days later with a Life Vest — a wearable defibrillator. It has not detected any heart issues, Yurcevich said.
As he undergoes cardiac rehabilitation, Yurcevich urges people to keep an eye on their heart health.
“I had no idea anything like that would even happen. I’ve been telling several people that are in my age group — mid-50s — even if you think you’re in good shape, maybe get a stress test or get yourself checked out, because you just never know,” Yurcevich said. “My family has no history of heart problems.”
Yurcevich presented each responder with a coin on Oct. 11 to commemorate their efforts.
“I can’t say enough about the care that I got,” he said.
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