Providing superior quality care for each patient we are privileged to serve is our duty as a healthcare provider and a core UHS principle. Many of our patients face complex health challenges. Our care teams work diligently to help turn the darkness into light, for every patient, with every interaction, enabling those in our care to lead the fullest lives possible.
We invite you to meet some of our patients and be inspired by their stories of hope and triumph.
Running marathons after open-heart surgery
Since his seven-bypass open-heart surgery, followed by intense cardiac rehabilitation, both at Doctors Hospital of Laredo in Laredo, Texas, Aristeo Gonzalez has run 12 marathons and 15 half-marathons.
“I’m very grateful to Dr. Santos, the nurses, and the whole team. I am going to continue training to see if I can get a Boston Marathon qualifying time. That’s my goal.”
— Aristeo Gonzalez
Recovering from a state of complete despair
“I had a serious suicide attempt and was in a state of complete despair when I arrived. Fuller was here for me when I couldn’t be here for myself and I will forever be grateful. I felt listened to, cared for and safe from the moment I arrived to the moment I was discharged.”
— I.M., a former patient at Fuller Hospital in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Shot twice while helping others
A resident of Victoria, British Columbia, Sheldon Mack traveled to Las Vegas in October 2017 to celebrate his 21st birthday at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. The concert evening turned to tragedy when shots were fired into the crowd. Sheldon was helping someone else when he was struck twice, in his abdomen and forearm. At Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center he underwent life-saving emergency surgery. Months later and back to enjoying life, Sheldon returned to Desert Springs to meet with his care team and express his gratitude.
“Without the team at Desert Springs, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m Living Proof that there are great people and a great hospital in Las Vegas.”
—Sheldon Mack
Impacting life in a positive way
Foundations Behavioral Health LifeWorks Schools are licensed specialty therapeutic day schools for students in middle and high school affected by social, emotional or behavioral health challenges. Mother Lillian Diaz wrote a letter of gratitude:
“It is because of LifeWorks and its professional staff that I — in very little time — have seen positive changes in my son’s ways of communicating. I am very proud of him and am very grateful that a program like LifeWorks has in place exists. I want LifeWorks’ staff to know that it is because of them that I have hope and I am less worried about my son becoming another statistical number in the system. So, I just want to give a big 'THANK YOU' to LifeWorks School for making a difference for the better, not only in a student’s life and while in school, but at home and out in the community as well. A mother should never have to fight the system in order for her child to receive the correct educational support the child needs and is entitled to. LifeWorks has offered us that support and peace of mind. Thank you LifeWorks and your staff for impacting life in such a positive way!”
—Lillian Diaz
Fetal surgery delivers double the joy
Alexis and Melina Garza are alive and thriving, thanks to life-saving fetal laser surgery performed at Wellington Regional Medical Center in Wellington, Florida, to treat twin-twin transfusion syndrome.
“We knew Wellington was on the cutting edge of this. We are so fortunate.”
—Jennifer and Andrew Garza, parents of Alexis and Melina
Read more about the Garza twins →
Living the life I've been blessed with today
“What Foundations Recovery Network did was show me how to live. Because I think it’s that glimmer of hope you find when you walk in the door and somebody offers you a way out. And you’re just so grateful. I owe them my life, I sincerely mean it. Everything I was looking for I found at Foundations to give me the tools I needed to live the life I’ve been blessed with today.”
—Margaret Phillips, a former patient at The Oaks at La Paloma in Memphis, Tennessee
Complete recovery after two strokes
Anthony Roosevelt Stokes knows firsthand that no two strokes are the same. In addition to receiving top-notch immediate medical care at Palmdale Regional Medical Center in Palmdale, California, he diligently completed the rehabilitation program, key to a complete recovery.
“Palmdale Regional Medical Center saved me — twice.”
—Anthony Roosevelt Stokes
A safe place for me
“I quickly learned that The BridgeWay was a safe place for me. I was reminded that things just don't change overnight, it takes patience and perseverance and hard work to overcome the challenges that life has presented to us. My caregivers worked as a team to help me get the right treatment for my diagnosis: bipolar disorder.”
—Barbara, former patient at The BridgeWay in North Little Rock, Arkansas
Motivated to help others in their darkest times
After a long-term and increasingly complex ‘mystery’ illness, including battling life-threatening complications from infection, Katie Wheeler was diagnosed at Temecula Valley Hospital in Temecula, California, with Superior Mesenteric Artery syndrome, a rare digestive condition.
“There is no doubt in my mind that I would not be here to talk about this today if it weren’t for Temecula Valley Hospital. I am truly humbled and cannot wait to apply to medical school and help others in their darkest times as the doctors and staff there did for me.”
—Katie Wheeler
