2025 Blue KC Answering the Call Honoree Jeremy Greene
Leading From in Front
In 2019, Kansas City firefighter Jeremy Greene attempted suicide. The stresses of the job were too much to take. He recognized that he needed help.
He went through a 30-day in-patient treatment program and came out with a new lease on life and a new purpose. He wanted to help his fellow first responders and military deal with the stress of “seeing people on their worst day.”
“We want to save everybody, and we think we can,” said Greene, the July recipient of the “Blue KC Answering the Call” award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and benefitting The Battle Within. “One of the best analogies I can give is a baseball analogy. All you have to do is hit .300 and you’re in the Hall of Fame.
“But if you hit .300, you’ve failed seven times out of 10. In our jobs, those aren’t acceptable numbers. We can’t save the person only three times out of 10. We believe that we should be able to do it 10 times out of 10, but that’s not reality. That belief is what sets us up for failure.”
The Battle Within is an organization that helps former military personnel and first responders like Greene cope with the sometimes-hidden trauma of their careers.
Now a captain, Greene became a firefighter after he felt stuck in a job that didn’t fulfill him. One of his coworkers was married to a firefighter and she suggested that Greene apply. Greene’s father had been a volunteer firefighter in Louisiana when he was a kid, so he applied.
He said he felt like he was prepared for the physical dangers of the job, but he wasn’t prepared for the mental or emotional dangers. “I don’t think anybody can be 100 percent prepared for that,” he said.
“It’s the car wrecks and the calls that involve kids that take a toll. We all want to go to fires, but the flip side of that is that’s somebody’s life that’s burning down. When you stop to think about it in that aspect, that can take a toll on you.”
When he completed his in-patient treatment, he and a couple of colleagues created The Washdown Podcast, where they help others deal with the stresses of the job. It’s not just for firefighters. All military/first responders are in tense situations that require calm responses. He has gotten a lot of good feedback from all types of folks who needed the boost.
They did the podcast for five years before scheduling conflicts made it impossible to continue. But he’s in the process of trying to get it started again.
He felt like doing the podcast was fulfilling enough for him, but his wife, who is a clinician with The Battle Within, urged him to get a refresher by going through a TBW Cohort. He resisted her for about a year before finally giving in.
The first day, he was all about helping others who were not as far along in their journey to recovery as he was. His life is structured around helping others.
But then he realized he had to make sure he was okay first. When they do the safety instructions before a flight up to the stairs, they always tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs. The Battle Within helps its clients “put on their own masks” before helping others.
Greene has been with the KCFD for 21 years in a variety of roles. He’s been a captain for the past five years. Whether it’s the podcast, The Battle Within or other treatment for job-related stress, Greene believes it’s important for him to “lead from in front” to those who serve under him.
Greene considers himself fortunate to be able to serve, both as a firefighter in general, and with helping other service-oriented people. It’s brought him recognition he didn’t seek.
“It’s very humbling,” he said of the “Blue KC Answering the Call” designation. “And to be honest, I don’t really know that I’ve done enough to deserve it.”
We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.
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