Travis Hore swapped real estate for paramedicine after a life-changing encounter. Now he is saving lives.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
The real estate agent to paramedic pipeline is a road less travelled, but for Travis Hore, it was a necessary journey to finding his true place in the world.
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Walking through the doors of the Ambulance Victoria station on Ogilvie Ave, I was greeted with the blinding smile and firm handshake that comes with 25 years of experience welcoming people into their future homes.
He was dressed in his navy blues, a uniform only a few months old, but Mr Hore wore them as if it had always been his calling.
That calling struck a few years ago during a routine run, when he came across a woman in deep distress.
He made a split-second decision that would alter his life forever: he stopped to help.
“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,” Mr Hore said.
At that point in his life, he had “lost the adrenaline” for auctioning houses.
“I knew there was probably something else I needed to be doing ... so (a couple of months later) I quit my job and signed up for (paramedicine),” he said.
Returning to university as a mature-age student was “all kinds of awkward” for Mr Hore, balanced between 20-something classmates who mistook him for the lecturer and the typical “I’ve got no clue what any of this means” self-doubt.
He hasn't lost the skills that made him a familiar face in local real estate. Travis Hore explains how building trust to sell a house is the perfect preparation for saving a life.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
An old friend and paramedic then suggested he get some experience in the field, so he signed up to be an ambulance community officer in Cohuna.
ACOs are first responders who assist paramedics in regional and rural areas, trained to provide advanced first aid and transport patients to hospital.
It’s an experience Mr Hore credits as his career’s turning point.
“One job involved a little boy that could have gone really, really badly, but it turned out the complete opposite, it went miraculously well,” he 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.”
After years of studying, training and acting as an ACO, Mr Hore is now part of AV’s newest set of graduates.
Since May, he has been back in Echuca — the place where it all began — except now he is in those navy blues.
Yet he hasn’t lost the skills honed in his previous profession.
“In a short period you need to get close to people, talk to people in a sense they trust you, and then you get honesty ... it’s the same in real estate,” he said.
The adrenaline Mr Hore once felt commanding a crowded auction room has been replaced by the rush of field work — helping people on their worst days while constantly learning from those around him.
“Every day I get to go to work with smart, young people who’ve got the same goals, challenge themselves and challenge me all the time to get better,” he said.
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