Stories from St. Agnes community hospital in Willow Creek: competence, quiet costs, small wins. Nine grounded stories that understand the day you just had. ER triage under pressure, family meetings in hallways, supply routes that save minutes, and audits that finally see context. These aren't grand speeches; they're steady hands, kind routes, and small, honest wins in the ER. Meet the people who keep the place running when dashboards don't: Jack Donovan (rabbit, ER charge nurse) protecting human judgment at triage; Maria Engel (deer, social work nurse) steering impossible discharges with grace; DeShawn Adeyemi (hare, float nurse) exposing assignment bias; Lisa Patel (rabbit, charge nurse) tracing missing equipment; and Sarah Chen (mouse, staff nurse) charting so the next shift isn't blind. Scope Creep Press lives in the North Midwest's low-key reality—competent workers navigating failing systems with dignity and occasional dark humor. Critical Hours is your doorway to that wider world: interconnected institutions, recurring characters, and small acts of resistance that add up.