In a hospital, there is always another patient waiting. As soon as one bed empties, another is filled. At UnityPoint in Des Moines, nurses were expected to keep that system running no matter the cost to our patients, to our licenses, or to ourselves. By 2024 our hospital systems were routinely over capacity, patient wait times were astronomical, and staffing was dangerously thin. Nurses were expected to do more with less, while executives continued to reward themselves. That pressure pushed UnityPoint nurses to do something unprecedented: organize ourselves and become Teamsters.