Children’s Hospital Uses ‘Pokemon GO’ to Get Patients Excited and Out of Bed (WATCH)

A hospital is using the new Pokemon GO craze to get child patients out of bed and into the hallways for some fun time and physical activity.

“It’s kind of a sneaky way to get kids to exercise,” said J.J. Bouchard, who is employed in the pediatric wing of the Michigan hospital. “It’s getting people to look up from their phones and interact with one another.”

The brand new app is a game that accesses a smartphone’s GPS and camera to allow players to explore their surroundings in search of more than 100 Pokemon creatures. Bouchard said there are several ‘Pokespots’ at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, where patients can gather to find the cute monsters day and night.

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There’s even a Pokemon “gym”, a spot in the building where Pokemons on different levels and phones can battle each other.

Young patients in the hallways—along with their siblings and parents, because this craze is so popular that whole families are regularly playing now—will stop and chat about the game, instead of keeping silent or solemnly to themselves.

“It raises the general atmosphere of happiness here in the hospital.”

MORE: 6 Reasons to Be Happy the New Pokemon App is Taking Over the Streets

(WATCH the video below from Mott Children’s Hospital)

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