ECHUCA, VIC. — Echuca graduate paramedic Travis Hore is proving it’s never too late to find your calling, stepping away from 25 years as a real estate agent and auctioneer to embark on a new career at Ambulance Victoria.
Travis decided with no background in healthcare, but a determination to make the biggest impact he could.
And from his first on-road shift, Travis knew he had made the right decision.
“I know wholeheartedly that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. It’s an amazing feeling. You can’t replicate the satisfaction you get from helping people on their worst day,” he said.
It was a taste of that feeling that inspired Travis’ bold career change.
Out on a run, he came across someone in distress and stopped to help, supporting them to seek assistance from emergency services.
“I think I made them feel comfortable and they thanked me in a really profound way. I thought to myself, imagine helping people like that every day,” Travis said.
A few months later, Travis had quit his real estate career and signed up to study paramedicine at university.
It was a big decision, saying goodbye to a successful career, making the switch to healthcare with no experience in the industry, and heading to university for the first time after not finishing high school.
A local paramedic who knew Travis’ family heard about his plans and suggested Travis apply to be an Ambulance Community Officer (ACO).
ACOs are Ambulance Victoria first responders trained to provide advanced first aid and transport patients to hospital. They are employed on a casual basis, working on-call in rural and remote communities.
“Starting as an ACO in Cohuna was a turning point because it gave me a front row seat to paramedicine,” Travis said.
“It showed me how important it was for people to get good quality pre-hospital care as quickly and effectively as possible. I saw what a difference it made.”
Thanks to his work as an ACO, Travis was able to apply for and achieve an Ambulance Victoria scholarship to support his transition to paramedicine. It meant he was paired with a mentor, who provided guidance and feedback to help Travis through his university degree and on-road placements.
After about a year as an ACO, Travis had his only moment of self-doubt.
“University was getting difficult and I had some doubt creeping in. I turned up for an ACO shift and we were called to an incident with a young patient which was very confronting. While the patient was in our care, we got their pulse back and one week later, the patient returned home,” Travis said.
“I took that as a sign not to lose faith in the journey and that I was exactly where I was meant to be.”
From then on for Travis, it was all about maintaining the right mindset – something he will take with him on the next phase of his career as a graduate paramedic.
“I always reinforced my thinking with something a paramedic told me, that you can’t forget what a privilege it is to go to someone’s house and help them in their worst moments, and you can only bring what you have,” he said.
“If what you have is six months’ experience, then bring that and your best effort. All I can do is give my best effort and make sure every day I learn more, grow more, get clinically better, and then I can provide better care in time.
“When you work in a team full of smart people who share the same goals and want to improve to provide the best care for people every day and in every situation, it’s really inspiring.”
Travis started on-road as a graduate paramedic at Ambulance Victoria’s Echuca branch in late May.
