National Democrats plan local billboard citing CRH cuts

Columbus Regional Health officials say that they are not associated with a Democratic National Committee billboard that is going up in the community, that blames the closing of several CRH services on the Trump Administration.

The DNC announced this week that it is installing billboards in four communities across the country, including Columbus. According to the announcement, the billboard would be going up on on State Road 46, or State Street on the east side of the city, about a quarter of a mile east of Fairview Drive. It would say that “Under Trump’s Watch Columbus Regional Health is Cutting Medical Services.”

Although the campaign announcement says that it is placing the billboards outside “shuttering hospitals to make sure voters know who is responsible for gutting rural health care,” CRH officials say that the hospital is not in danger of closing down and was not cited in a recent congressional letter as a hospital in danger.

In a statement from the local health system, they say that CRH was unaware of the billboard campaign, did not receive advance notice and did not provide permission to be used in the campaign.

CRH announced earlier this summer that it was cutting its sports medicine and orthopedics program, ending athletic trainer partnerships with local schools, and closing its in-patient rehabilitation unit. The hospital cited financial hardships leading to the decisions, including federal and state funding cuts as well as difficulties with insurance companies delaying or denying reimbursements.

The stark yellow and black billboard campaign is also targeting communities in Missouri, Oklahoma and Montana.