Winnie Maggiore began her career in fire and EMS back in 1973 when she became one of the first women firefighters. She was an assistant chief of the Placitas Volunteer Fire Brigade for nearly 20 years, having helped to start the volunteer fire department in her home town. She has been an EMT since 1978 and a paramedic since 1981. She has worked as a firefighter and EMT in the field and as a state EMS administrator. She obtained her Bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico in 1989 before moving on to obtain a law degree with a focus on health law in 1992. She is a shareholder at the law firm of Butt, Thornton & Baehr, PC where she defends physicians, dentists, oral surgeons, nurses, paramedics and other health care providers, as well as law enforcement officers, against lawsuits. Besides helping to build the Fire Brigade, one of her most important contributions was the revision of the New Mexico EMS legislation to provide broader protection and due process for licensed EMS personnel, and to make changes to allow EMTs to work in facilities such as clinics and hospitals as well as in the prehospital setting. She also made major contributions to the development of DNR regulations that allowed DNR orders to be recognized by EMS. Winnie is on the volunteer faculty at the University of New Mexico's Department of Emergency Medicine, where she teaches on legal issues for emergency medical providers. She is on the faculty of the National EMS Medical Director's Course put on by the National Association of EMS Physicians. She coauthored an important article on legal issues for EMS medical directors and has played a significant role in teaching about the legal relationship between EMS providers and their medical directors. She is a member of the JEMS editorial board and a frequent national speaker on EMS legal topics. Winnie was the proud recipient of the prestigious James O. Page award for EMS leadership in 2011. Winnie enjoys hiking in the mountains near her home with her two Dalmatians, and her husband, Dave, who is a retired emergency physician and stroke survivor.
