Meet MOFGA Volunteer Kevin McGinnis

Spring 2025
By Betsy Garrold

Photo credit: Kevin McGinnis

“Dedicated” and “focused” are the words that came to mind when I spoke with Kevin McGinnis, co-coordinator of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) at the Common Ground Country Fair. McGinnis, along with three other coordinators, spends the three-day event creating a safety net that keeps tens of thousands of fairgoers healthy and enjoying the Fair. “Our job is to keep people happy and at the Fair,” says McGinnis.

He came to Maine in 1986 to direct the State Office of Emergency Medical Services, and he attended his first Fair that fall. He has been hooked ever since. “I really like the family atmosphere: no beer, no midway, just a bunch of folks having a good time together. It never loses its appeal,” he says.

That was 38 years ago, and for the last 20 years McGinnis has helped run the emergency medical services, which range from giving someone an aspirin for a headache to minor suturing done by onsite physicians. “It’s like a little emergency room we staff 24 hours a day during the three days, and the most interesting calls often come after midnight.” Northern Light Health provides the main back-up ambulance for the Fair each September, with a “big” ambulance parked at the farm house. A mini Sugarloaf ambulance is used, along with golf carts outfitted with stretchers, for getting around the fairgrounds easily.

McGinnis emphasizes that most years the pace is very slow at the EMS tent. “We usually see between 150 and 300 people per year, mostly for aspirin or sunscreen.” He says it is a great volunteer gig for his staff, many of whom come back year after year. “You get to see the Fair and still feel like you are helping when help is needed.”

The director of the Fair, April Boucher, says, "I'm incredibly thankful for Kevin. He generously volunteers his time and medical expertise. His deep knowledge, planning experience, and understanding of the Fair have helped develop and ensure the Fair's protocols are comprehensive and actionable. Thanks to Kevin and our trusted EMS coordinators, the Common Ground Country Fair has the best EMS resource of all the fairs in Maine."

Now in his retirement, McGinnis is dedicating time to helping jeopardized local ambulance services in Maine’s rural areas. He is currently working with the Unity Ambulance to transition from an all-volunteer service, with very committed volunteers working around the clock for a small stipend, to a more robust model with full-time staff. Even with their all-volunteer model, the Unity Ambulance is able to provide paramedic coverage for 80% of their patients needing advanced care.

McGinnis is committed to improving EMS throughout Maine, and he is interested in various models across the state. Jackman, for example, has a clinic staffed 24/7 by paramedics that was established after the area lost their local clinic. The paramedic on call has access to St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor via FirstNet, a system that McGinnis helped to establish nationwide, that brings dedicated broadband connection to first responders. Before it was established in 2012, first responders had no priority on commercial wireless networks and could get bumped off during heavy-traffic periods. McGinnis served as the EMS representative to the national effort to get an important piece of legislation passed.

For fun, McGinnis chauffeurs his wife, who is a Vista volunteer at the Maine State Library in early childhood literacy and travels Maine promoting works and distributing books for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. “I like to see the state that way,” he says. Then he returns to his primary commitment. McGinnis says, “My day job has always been leading and improving EMS systems and my night/weekend job has been in the back of an ambulance to see how well I did my day job.” Now that is focus and dedication.