EMT Kevin Waterworth, right, of Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., shows off a colorful children's emergency ambulance at Lawrence Memorial Hospital to Kim Coons, a registered nurse.

It’s a tough sell to try to convince a child that having to ride in an ambulance is anything but scary.

But Children’s Mercy Hospital tried to do just that by outfitting an ambulance truck that looks like anything but.

The hospital’s Critical Care Transport Services staff came Tuesday to Lawrence Memorial Hospital to show off the ambulance, which is decorated with cartoons on the outside and resembles a play center on the inside.

“The kids love it,” said Pam Grimes, outreach coordinator for Children’s Mercy Critical Care Transport Services. “They think it’s like an ice cream truck.”

Grimes describes the ambulance, which Children’s Mercy uses primarily to transport children from one hospital to another, as an intensive care unit on wheels.

Adorned with toys, music and even a monitor for kids to watch television and DVDs, Children’s Mercy staff members think the truck will be a more comforting setting for sick and injured children.

“That helps so much with distractions; it takes their mind off their troubles,” Grimes said.

The ambulances are specially retrofitted to transport newborn or premature babies at safe temperatures, a task that’s difficult in regular ambulances.

“If we were to take a premature baby out of here and wrap it in blankets and turn the heat on high, it wouldn’t be enough (to keep the baby sufficiently warm),” Grimes said.

Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Mo., will operate six of these ambulances throughout the area. Each costs about $200,000.

While parked outside LMH for about an hour Tuesday, the “Just For Kids” ambulance drew attention and praise from pediatric nurses, including Kim Coons, who toured the new truck.

She said the new ambulance would be good for kids.

“It’s new, it’s state-of-the-art, it has everything a child needs to get them from one hospital to another,” Coons said.