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Milwaukee VA Medical Center: Please catch Pokemon somewhere else

Posted at 11:17 PM, Jul 13, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-14 12:50:28-04

MILWAUKEE -- People hoping to catch some Pokemon on the grounds of the Milwaukee VA Medical Center are being asked to do it somewhere else. But, other Milwaukee institutions are welcoming players of the popular Pokemon Go game with open arms.

Milwaukee Veterans Affairs Medical Center Public Affairs Officer Gary Kunich says they've received a few reports of people playing the game on VA grounds, with at least one person doing so at Wood National Cemetery.

Kunich says they're asking people to respect patient privacy and stay out of the hospital and the cemetery.

"We have people buried there as recently as the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a place of peace and prayer and reflection and it's just not appropriate to play the Pokemon game there, so we're asking those Pokemon hunters to go elsewhere," Kunich said.

Kunich says they're trying to be proactive after reports of Pokemon Go players at Arlington National Cemetery and the Holocaust Museum.

But, at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Director of Special Events Krista Renfrew says players are welcome. She says the museum is even a "gym," where players can do battle with one another.

"So far, it's been a great experience. It's been wonderful to see this younger generation coming in and experiencing it within the museum. We haven't had any problems and everyone is being super respectful," said Renfrew.

And she says some of those players are even looking up from their phones at the art.

"We even sold a couple of student memberships because of the Pokemon Go game," Renfrew said.