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Turn your vets' phone-triage judgment into a color-coded checklist app your front desk uses on sick-pet calls, built with ChatGPT and Codex
Dr. Erin Downes, VMD, co-owner and hospital administrator of Paoli Vetcare in Paoli, Pennsylvania, in her own Devpost write-up
Downes, who says she had zero coding experience, first turned the vet team's reasoning into a four-color triage flowchart (RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN), then into Custom GPT assistants that ask follow-up questions. She then used ChatGPT and Codex to build veTriage, a web app the front desk uses during calls: it screens for emergencies, walks reception through one of ten sick-visit pathways using questions about what the owner can see, assigns an urgency color, sends RED cases straight to a vet, queues ORANGE and YELLOW for technician review, gives approved wording for the client and writes a note to paste into IDEXX Cornerstone. The live app runs fixed rules, not an AI model, and only a vet can lower a RED result.
ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (she also used Codex to build the app; the checklist version below needs only ChatGPT)
Advanced · or we set it up for $197
ChatGPT, OpenAI Codex, IDEXX Cornerstone
The problem
After the hospital lost two of its three vets (per Inc.), receptionists with no medical training were left deciding which sick-pet calls were urgent. "We cannot expect them to do what a veterinarian can do." A conventionally developed app was estimated at about $32,000–$91,000 upfront plus roughly $3,600–$18,000 a year.
What happened
Per her write-up, the team was using veTriage in the routine pilot sick-call workflow by July 14, 2026 "without another reminder," and staff testing on real calls caught defects (including an 'all-RED' bug) that led to a redesign. The app won first place ($15,000) in its category at OpenAI's Build Week, per Inc. Self-reported; no call or outcome numbers given.
Quoted in the source: Dr. Erin Downes, co-owner, Paoli Vetcare. Source: Devpost: veTriage, Safety-First Vet Phone Triage PWA Built in a Week (write-up by Dr. Erin Downes) (2026-07-21) · Added 2026-11-04.
How to set it up yourself
- What Paoli Vetcare does: Dr. Erin Downes turned her vets' phone-triage reasoning into a four-color system, then a checklist app the front desk uses on every sick-pet call.
- Sit down with your vets and write how they sort common sick calls (vomiting, diarrhea, urinary, eye, ear) into RED (now), ORANGE, YELLOW and GREEN, using only things an owner can see.
- Paste those notes into ChatGPT with the prompt below to get a question-by-question checklist and approved client wording. A vet reviews and signs off every pathway.
- Have reception try it on real calls with a vet nearby, log anything that seems wrong, and fix it. Her team's testing caught a bug that marked everything RED.
- Keep the rule that only a vet can downgrade a RED call. If you later turn it into an app, keep the rules fixed so the app doesn't improvise (as she did).
Copy-paste prompt
You are helping {CLINIC NAME}, a veterinary hospital, turn our vets' phone-triage notes into a checklist for receptionists with no medical training. Using only the notes below, write: 1) emergency screening questions to ask first, 2) for each complaint, short yes/no questions about things the owner can see, 3) which answers mean RED (see a vet now), ORANGE, YELLOW or GREEN, 4) approved wording to tell the client for each color, plus warning signs to watch for. Don't add medical advice that isn't in the notes; list anything unclear as a question for the vet.
Vet notes: {PASTE NOTES}We set up one AI automation in your tools, live within 48 hours of getting access, for $197. No call needed. Founding price for our first 10 customers (regular $297).
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Tools used
ChatGPT
General AI assistant for writing, research, brainstorming and analysis.
From Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (checked 2026-11-03)
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Checked prices: ChatGPT: from Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (verified 2026-11-03)
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