“It’s a Help System”
Annie is a VA messaging service that empowers Veterans to take an active role in their health care.
Messages from Annie can include reminders to take medication, tips for reducing stress, instructions to prepare for health care appointments, and more. Annie is a free service and anyone with a phone that can send and receive text messages can use it.
Annie helps Veterans take charge of their health, one text at a time. Or, as U.S. Army Veteran Calvin Kasparek describes it: “It’s a help system.”
Mr. Kasparek, who recently celebrated his 81st birthday, has been using the Annie App for close to a year. He finds the text messages helpful because he is regularly busy with other things, and they provide him with good health reminders.
What he likes most about the app is that it is personalized for you. He also likes the variety of messages that offer different suggestions— ‘look for this’ or ‘try that.’ Annie texts may include health-related notifications, reminders or motivational messages based on a Veteran’s goals or health conditions.
Mr. Kasparek recommends other Veterans try out the Annie App because “it gives you responsibility for your health.” Annie empowers Veterans to play an active role in their health care by prompting them to provide health data such as weight or blood pressure levels – or reminding them to take prescribed medications.
How to get started
To start using Annie, register online through the Annie App for Veterans page on the VA App Store. After launching Annie, you will need to consent to take part in the program and then set up your account.
After you register for Annie, you can subscribe to protocols, or groups of messages, that are tailored to your health conditions or goals. Once you subscribe to a protocol, you will receive text messages related to the protocol, such as medication reminders or motivational support for stress or weight management.
Your Butler VA care team must assign or authorize some Annie protocols for you. But you can subscribe to many protocols yourself. More protocols that you can subscribe yourself to are becoming available on an ongoing basis.
For more information about the Annie App for Veterans, visit https://mobile.va.gov/app/annie-app-veterans.