Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Getting the word out about childhood immunizations recently took a colorful turn when several social service agencies teamed up with an area artist to decorate a local bus.
The 15-passenger Kosciusko Area Bus Service bus can hardly be missed, with huge paintings of brightly colored animals on both sides and the back. And it's definitely doing what it was meant to do - turn heads.
"It's been real exciting - it's been a real attention-getter," said Tom Sherron, general manager of KABS, who supplied the bus for the project.
"The first time the public sees the bus, we want them to ask, 'What is this?' " said Jon Cupp, administrator of the county health department. The purpose of the advertising on the bus, he said, is to emphasize immunizing children by age 2.
The artwork reinforces that standard by showing animals in pairs, said Bob Vandermark, of Vandermark Signs in Larwill, who designed and painted the scenes on the bus. The idea for the Noah's Ark theme was his son's.
Vandermark spent 15 to 20 hours designing the artwork, then, once it was approved, spent almost 12 hours a day for eight days painting the bus.
"The bus needed to be in service, so I had to get rolling," he said. "We flowed with it, got the bus over here and started painting."
He said it was difficult - but not impossible - to paint over the windows and curves of the bus and not compromise the design. After the bus was painted, Vandermark applied a clear coat to preserve the design for the entire three-year contract.
The bus project was the brainchild of Sandy Rader, team leader of inpatient and community health services at Kosciusko Community Hospital. Rader said her utmost concern is getting the word out about immunizations, which are free in Kosciusko County at the Well Child Clinic.
In 1992, Rader said, 48 percent of children in Kosciusko County were immunized by age 2; that rate has jumped to more than 80 percent.
"But we still feel like we can do better," she said.
Rader said the project was financed by the health department; by CIGNA, the managed care company used by R.R. Donnelley & Sons; and by a matching grant from Donnelley.
Sherron said the advertising effort has been popular with the public, and KABS plans to keep the bus in wide circulation for three years: "We're going to use it as much as we can to try and get the message out to young parents that they can make a call and get their child immunized."
