Patient Returns to the Hospital on One-Year Anniversary

When patients return to the hospital, it’s usually for a recurring health issue. But for Rachel Culkins, it was to thank the Adventist Health Hanford team for saving her life.

Rachel and her husband, Kurt, visited the hospital’s Medical Surgical team in June 2025, which was the one-year anniversary of her hospital stay and the one-year anniversary of her sobriety. Liver sclerosis, due to excessive alcohol consumption, is what brought Rachel to the hospital in June 2024.

“I had been worried about Rachel for the past five years because the drinking got considerably worse,” said Kurt. “I woke her up one day and she passed out, so I rushed her to the hospital, and they immediately went into emergency mode.”

One of the nurses told Rachel, “If you ever drink again, you’re going to die.”

That was the wake-up call Rachel said she needed to help turn her life around.

“Every time I got that thought that I wanted a beer, I could hear that nurse's voice. She was a savior. God sent her to me,” said Rachel.

On that one-year anniversary of being sober, Rachel’s husband took to Facebook with the following message:

"Today we celebrated Rachel's one-year sobriety from alcohol. Ultimately, she's done it all by herself... but she wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Adventist Health Hanford. Rachel and I will never be able to express the amount of love and thankfulness we have for each person (regardless of 'title') during her stay. Even after the hospitalization, staff were calling to check on her and answer questions I had. We are so grateful."