Thomas Gounley

TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Springfield's two main health systems are asking members of the public to stop playing the popular smartphone game "Pokemon Go" on their campuses — and one of them specifically requested employees on the job cease trying to "catch 'em all."

In a Wednesday morning email to Mercy Springfield Communities employees, Regional Vice President of Human Resources Tanya Marion wrote: "Unfortunately, we have had a number of coworkers and members of the public who have been using this application while on our many campuses, causing our campuses to be 'marked' as popular 'PokeStop' locations on the game."

"This in turn is causing a disruption in patient care and daily operations as we have had multiple instances of members of the public being on our campuses for non-patient related reasons," Marion wrote. "Of additional concern is the fact that we are seeing an upswing in the activity of this nature after hours when many of our locations are not fully staffed and operating, putting a strain on our safety and security coworkers."

"Because of this disruption and even potential risk to the safety of our patients and fellow coworkers, all coworkers need to immediately stop use of the 'Pokemon Go' application while on any Mercy campus," Marion's email continued. "If you see others using this application, please remind them that this causes a disruption in our ability to provide the best care to our patients and ask that they turn off the application while on our campuses."

Pokemon Go is an "augmented reality game" that accesses a smartphone's GPS and camera to allow players to explore their surroundings in search of more than 100 Pokemon creatures. Features within the game include "pokestops" — where users collect items they can use — and gyms, larger landmarks that users battle to control.

A post on Springfield's local Reddit page says Mercy Springfield's campus has four pokestops and a gym.

At Springfield-based CoxHealth, a handful of people have been asked to leave properties in connection with Pokemon Go, spokeswoman Kaitlyn McConnell told the News-Leader Wednesday. She said CoxHealth is asking members of the public to "not come here just to play the game."

McConnell said CoxHealth has general policies regarding phone use by employees, and "we haven't felt the need to specifically address Pokemon Go" with those on the job.

Pokémon Go crazy: Why you see so many people with their phones out in Springfield

Mercy and CoxHealth aren't the only systems asking the public to capture Squirtle somewhere else.

A spokesperson for Utah Valley Hospital in Provo told the Daily Herald that it was asking the public not to enter the hospital to access pokestops, saying “if there are extra people who are here not for a patient care reason, then that can cause problems.”

A similar request was made by Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw, Michigan.

"While Covenant HealthCare believes it is great physical exercise for children to hunt for Pokemon, the hospital is not the place to do this," a spokesperson told MLive.com. "To ensure extraordinary care for our patients, Covenant prohibits entry into the hospital to hunt for Pokemon. Our security department and the local police have been alerted to this issue."

Other places where top officials have asked visitors to not play the game? Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.