South Dakota health systems pay to have Gov. Noem play nurse in new ad

State inks deal worth more than $160K with hospitals ahead of latest Freedom Works Here campaign

South Dakota’s three largest hospital systems ponied up more than $160,000 to highlight the state’s nurse shortage in Gov. Kristi Noem’s national workforce recruitment ad campaign.

The Governor’s Office Tuesday launched the latest advertisement in the Freedom Works Here marketing blitz in which the second-term governor touts South Dakota’s tax climate while portraying a nurse pushing a gurney. It’s the seventh spot in what started as a $5 million advertising push that’s included a wrapped race car on two nationally televised NASCAR races and a saturation of TV commercials in eight states like Florida, Minnesota and California.

And beyond an additional $1 million GOED dedicated to the campaign this fall, the success of the campaign is being leveraged against South Dakota’s greatest areas of worker shortages to keep Freedom Works Here ads airing longer.

Among those positions in most demand are nurses, of which the state will need 1,900 more by 2030 according to industry estimates. That’s why Sanford Health, Monument Health and Avera Health are the latest to sponsor a Freedom Works Here ad. And though the Governor’s Office this week declined to make public how much the sponsorship deals are worth and what sponsors are promised in return, an investigation by The Dakota Scout found the three health systems chipped in more than $160,000 to get Noem to play nurse.

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