Local Fifth Grader’s Artwork Featured On New Banner Wyoming Medical Center Ambulance

Banner Wyoming Medical Center has a new animal on one of its ambulances.

Paxton Steffensmeier, now 11 and a fifth grader at Pineview Elementary School, won the coloring and essay contest with 522 votes on social media back in October. The newest ambulance is the first animal in a winter scene – a red fox. Paxton’s drawing and essay are also incorporated into the design of the ambulance.

“I chose the red fox because they are able to run up to about 30 mph so they can get to places fast like the ambulance,” Paxton’s essay read. “They also help their babies like the ambulance helps others.”

Banner Wyoming Medical Center celebrated with a reveal ceremony at Paxton’s school on Wednesday. Two other students at Pineview were also in the Top 10 as determined by the local ambulance crew and were honored – Presley Church with a wolverine and Naomi Vreeman with another red fox.

Paxton was invited on a special tour and ride in the Casper’s newest ambulance after school on Wednesday. "It was pretty cool,” he said after the short ride.

This is the fourth contest the hospital has held in recent years. The last three winners determined the ambulance rigs with wild horses, a rainbow trout and a black-footed ferret. The fleet also includes a grizzly bear, elk, bison, moose and mountain lion.

“This is something that Wyoming Medical Center has done for a long time, and we are so glad to be able to keep the tradition going,” said Lance Porter, Banner Wyoming Medical Center’s CEO.

Last fall, elementary school students in Natrona County were invited to draw their favorite Wyoming animal that isn’t already on a Banner Wyoming Medical Center ambulance and write a short essay about why it should join the herd. The contest wrapped on Oct. 31, and the new blank ambulance finally arrived in Casper in January ready to be wrapped. The fox ambulance will be put into service in the next couple of weeks.