Park DuValle Community Health Center reaches the community with the help of TARC transit advertising

A health center built on access

Park DuValle has a long and meaningful history in Louisville. It was founded during the Civil Rights Movement to address the lack of accessible healthcare in African American communities, and it became the first community health center in Kentucky and the seventh in the nation. The belief behind it was simple: quality healthcare should be available to everyone, regardless of income, background, or insurance status.

That belief still shapes everything the center does. Its mission is to improve health, wellness, and quality of life through safe, high-quality, accessible preventive and primary care. Services include adult and pediatric care, women’s health and behavioral health, along with on-site laboratory services and an in-house pharmacy supported by the 340B program.

Patients receive the same quality of care whether they have commercial insurance or Medicaid, or pay on a sliding fee scale based on household income. No one is turned away because of their ability to pay, and that is a message worth making visible across the city.

Dr. Jett reaches the people of Louisville from several angles: his television show CEO Live Talks, billboards around the city and robust public relations campaigns. He is direct about why. In his view, too many organizations underinvest in marketing and promotion, and he considers it essential. For him, marketing does two things. It increases the volume of patients, and it adds exposure to a good service already being delivered. Of all the pieces in the strategy, the Park DuValle wraps on TARC buses have become one of the most essential.

Why transit belongs in a health center’s marketing mix

Large outdoor formats in Louisville tend to sit along highways such as I-71 and I-265. Transit advertising works at a different level: on city and suburban streets, at eye level, and in neighborhoods where many other outdoor formats are not typically allowed. For a center whose patients live in neighborhoods across the city, that street-level presence matters.

Transit also complements the rest of the mix. Television and public relations tell the story of the center. A bus puts its name and its services in front of people again and again while they go about their day, which is how familiarity is built. The advertisements on the TARC buses vary. Some showcase the range of healthcare services. Some help people with WIC enrollment. Others promote Dr. Jett’s CEO Live Talks show. Each one puts the Park DuValle name in front of the people the center exists to serve.

A full bus wrap covers the whole vehicle, giving a health center room to show who it is and what it offers in a single glance. The reaction from the community has been warm, and Dr. Jett says the sight of the center on a bus has made people smile.

Formats that fit a health center

Adsposure offers a range of formats on TARC. Full bus wraps cover the full sides and rear of the bus. Bus billboard ads use the large King, Queen, and Kong side panels. Partial side banners work well when placed on several buses at once, and rear ads, including Supertail formats, are seen by drivers behind the bus.

Inside the bus, Interior Cards and ceiling placements give riders time to read, which suits messages with detail, such as services or enrollment steps. Shelter advertising reaches people waiting for the bus and those walking or driving past. For organizations that serve older adults or people with disabilities, paratransit advertising places a message on vehicles that travel to locations such as medical facilities. Availability varies with occupied ad space, so Adsposure confirms current options before planning. 

Park DuValle started in the West End, but its patients now come from across the region. Dr. Jett describes the center as being everywhere, so that wherever you go, you can have Park DuValle. TARC serves neighborhoods throughout Louisville, so the advertising reaches the areas where patients live, work, and play.

One example is Newburgh, a community that includes many Congolese, Syrian, Turkish, and Cuban residents. Dr. Jett says many of them hear about the center through the wraps on the buses. Putting the brand on buses that serve these neighborhoods helps the message reach people regardless of background, and reinforces that care is available to every member of the community.

How patients are hearing about Park DuValle

Beyond brand visibility, the campaign shapes how people learn about the center. Park DuValle surveys its patients and asks how they heard about it. Dr. Jett reports that more and more people are answering that they saw the advertisement.

That simple question is a practical way for any healthcare organization to evaluate a transit campaign. Decide how you will check results before the ads run, compare against your normal patterns, and treat the answers as a guide rather than a precise count. The community response has been overwhelmingly positive. People often stop to take photos or videos of the buses and send them to Dr. Jett and the Park DuValle team.

For a health center, that kind of goodwill matters. A bus that people photograph and share is a bus that residents recognize as part of their own city.

TARC and Adsposure in Louisville

Adsposure is the official transit advertising partner of TARC, the Transit Authority of River City, and announced the partnership in February 2025. Adsposure sells advertising on TARC buses and shelters to local, regional and national organizations, and the majority of the media spend for these campaigns goes directly to TARC.

Louisville is a city with a full calendar, from the Kentucky Derby season to Thunder Over Louisville. Adsposure’s Louisville team works with advertisers on format, timing and creative so a campaign can connect to the moments that matter to the community. 

Advertising on TARC buses with Adsposure also gives back to the transit system. A large portion of the investment goes directly back to TARC, so organizations like Park DuValle can feel good about advertising: their funds help keep the system moving, and some of their own patients rely on it.

Advertising revenue is also flexible money for a transit authority. It can support operations and help protect service, which connects directly to the access that a community health center cares about. Public health and healthcare advertising are a natural fit for transit because of the medium’s connection to the community and its accessibility. Across Adsposure’s cities, organizations such as the American Heart Association, Hoxworth Blood Center, and local health departments have used transit to share health information and encourage action.

When a message matters to an entire city or a large part of it, a bus keeps that message visible in the places people already travel, shop and gather. For Park DuValle, that visibility supports its mission as well as its marketing.

Planning a healthcare campaign with Adsposure

A strong healthcare campaign starts with a clear goal: awareness of a new service, enrollment in a program, or recruiting patients from a particular neighborhood. Adsposure then recommends a mix of formats and a flight length. For building familiarity, Adsposure recommends planning for a campaign of three months or more, so the message becomes part of people’s routine. A single event or seasonal push can run on a shorter flight.

Keep creative simple: the name, one clear message, and a way to act, since transit ads are read in passing. Buses are assigned daily, and routes change, so Adsposure plans format, timing, and city rather than promising that a bus will pass a specific address. We develop the best campaign plan before the creative begins.

Adsposure, The Transit Advertising People

Adsposure is The Transit Advertising People. Transit is all we do, which means we bring deep knowledge of transit systems, formats, and community partnerships to every campaign, and our account executives live and work in the cities where our advertisers do business.

Adsposure thanks Dr. Swannie Jett and the entire Park DuValle Community Health Center team for sharing their story and for their continued investment in transit advertising. Their commitment to reaching the community and making healthcare accessible for all sets an example for organizations looking to make an impact.

“To see Park DuValle on a bus, it made people smile.”

Dr. Swannie Jett, CEO, Park DuValle Community Health Center

Want to reach more people across Louisville? Talk to Adsposure, The Transit Advertising People, about advertising on TARC. Call the Louisville team at (502) 214 7308.