If the ann-e iPhone application encourages one addict to come out of isolation and move into recovery, then this application is a success. We don’t have to lose one more precious day of our lives to the disease of addiction.
| “Linking the connectivity of iPhone with support for health is brilliant. I can't wait to use the ann-e iPhone app with my patients.” |
Karen Buhler, MD
Head of Family Practice, Women and Children’s Hospital |
On December 9th, 2008, I was in our community grocery store minutes before closing. Behind me at the checkout counter was an extremely obese man leaning on a cart filled with every imaginable brand of junk food, candy, and ice cream. He would not make eye contact. My heart immediately went out to him. I knew too well where he was headed. The picture of him in so much pain stayed with me. I had a burning desire to help.
Days later I was walking my dog and thinking about what I saw in the store, and an idea came to me. What if that man had known, even before walking into the store, that there were people close by who understood addiction and who could help because they themselves were in recovery? If he entered that store with an awareness of the support structure surrounding him, would he have been able to make different choices? What if he was also given the option to connect with someone in the area who would talk to him while the cravings passed? That person might be right across the street. I began to visualize a network of addicts from more than four-dozen different 12 Step programs, supporting each other. We just needed some kind of technology to connect us all and enable us to easily ask for, or offer support.
This is how ann-e (anonymous network) was born as an application for iPhone. The ann-e iPhone app is a high utility tool making use of the simple concept - Together we can do what we could never do alone. Millions of us are addicted to alcohol, food, nicotine, gambling, substances or behaviors. What an amazing resource we are for each other! The network we create will be like no other. No addict need suffer from isolation again.
I’m truly grateful that I saw that man in our neighborhood grocery store. I have a feeling he is going to be responsible for improving the quality of life for many addicts. It won’t be long before the world becomes our safety net.
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