Hospitals In General
When reading the criteria for stop rejection, it is clear that stops that are close to the ambulance bay and can interfere with Emergency Services are not eligible as stops. I am curious though about anything else relating to hospitals. Many are large enough so that most of the hospital/hospital grounds are not reachable from the Emergency Department or the ambulance bays. Can objects that are on hospital grounds that do not risk interfering with the ED be accepted as stops? I work at several hospitals in my area, and we have several areas open as community resources like libraries or chapels as well as several sculptures, fountains, and artistic pieces. Would these not qualify as valid stops so long as they are located away from the ED and ambulance bays?
Comments
Ive seen tons of nominations that are just the entrances of hospitals. I 1* these for obstructing emergency services. However pieces of art, and things like some have sculptures and garden areas... I'm inclined to approve those. IDK maybe I'm wrong. If its iffy or not great I will tend to not rate them as an approval, I don't think having a **** ton of stops in a hospital is safe either
For example, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, my friend worked there and when PoGO had its popularity explosion, they had almost ALL of the stops removed because it was causing problems between random interlopers, and also employees playing.
My local hospital has a museum-quality display of nursing/medical artifacts on its ground floor. On all counts that would qualify as a wayspot, but I choose not to submit it, on the grounds I don't want to be in any way responsible for "obstructing emergency services".
On the other hand, there is also a garden near its back, which has long been a portal in Ingress (pre-Wayfarer), and its location does not in any way block anything.
I absolutely agree that it's not a great idea to have a truckload of stops at the hospital, though I personally don't really see the harm in a couple so long as they are located away from the Emergency Department. I also think that the days of the popularity explosion are over, so I'm a little less worried about events like that occurring. I submitted a few stops recently that exist on hospital grounds as I felt that they represent reasonable stops that shouldn't cause any problems as far as the ED is concerned.
One is a collaborative painting/mural done by some of the children participating in behavioral health.
Another is was a Little Free Library located on hospital grounds, but once again located far away from the ED.
The last was the health library which is an item open to the public; once again, far from the ED.
All of these are located within the blackhole that is the queue, and I am just wondering what the chances that any of them are accepted are.
Stops on hospital grounds are just fine as long as they don't block emergency services. A lot of hospitals have fountains, gardens, murals, sculptures, etc., that could all meet criteria. That they're on hospital grounds isn't a reason to deny an otherwise valid stop.
yeah at stanford here there’s tons of stops within the hospital away from the emergency department and it doesn’t obstruct anything which makes them acceptable as long as they otherwise meet the criteria
Not to mention interfering with emergency services.
The common citizen does not want players who have no business in that place, such as hospitals, police, military bases, power plants, etc., to enter for the sake of the game in the social life we live.
If you are not involved, get out!
That's what the security guards will tell you.
I think this social common sense makes it inappropriate to have anything on the premises, even if it is not near an emergency entrance or exit.
And I think that Wayspot, which already exists today, needs to be removed from all games in the near future.
Our games are built on the common sense of social life.
We are expected to abide by the rules of society before trying to satisfy our own desires.
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there are plenty of people who can go in the hospital though. the rules are that as long as somebody can access it without trespassing it’s acceptable. hospital portals can be accessed by patients, staff, and family members/visitors of patients. in fact when my wife was in the hospital after her childbirth complications the pokestops in the hospital were an incredibly welcome distraction and were nowhere near the emergency room.
You can argue with me, but I have always seen the lack of compliance of some game players with social rules and game rules.
As such, I do not expect them to be moral.
For some time now, there have been numerous media reports of such players crowding into dangerous or limited areas and socially despising them.
We have seen Wayspot removed and "No Location Based Game Players Allowed" signs put up because of this behavior, even in places that are open to everyone.
You can hope for moral support as you do.
But, we should also consider the fact that the aforementioned places are now clearly marked for denial.
If we are regarded as public enemies, it will be impossible for us to continue our game.
But, we should also consider the fact that the aforementioned places are now clearly marked for denial.
this simply isn’t true. the criteria only say “cannot block emergency services”. that’s it. 90% or a hospital is not at all involved in emergency services. there’s endless hallways and lobby spaces where people are expected to be standing around and there’s plenty of interesting art to make pokestops.
anything beyond “don’t block emergency services” is just something you’ve made up in your head. Interesting things in a hospital that do not interfere with access to the emergency department are completely valid pois
If a particular hospital has issues with location based games, then they can request their location be removed via the support pages. However, as someone who had to stay at a hospital for several days, any distraction is a welcomed one. And when I've submitted nominations at or near a hospital, my activities were welcomed by the staff. They know full well that mental health affects a patent's recovery. And it is for that reason why Niantic does not block all areas of a hospital. So as long as the Wayspots doesn't interfere with the hospital's emergency services or operations, there is no problem.
How about the people that play that are patients? I currently have two friends with a sick baby and they are having to basically live in the hospital. It helps them pass the time. Did you ever think about the people this is a way to get away from whatever reason they are in there for?
My local hospital has a tennis court in its garden. It's completely open to the public. In fact, I learned how to play there when I was ~7 years old. It's a perfect Wayspot in every sense, doesn't block emergency services (or it wouldn't be there in the first place).
One issue that Niantic should/would be worried about with regards to hospitals is that not all "emergencies" occur specifically at the ambulance drop-off points. And it asks too much of reviewers to try and determine where inside the hospitals the "acute care" wards are, and on which floors.
On the other hand, not all hospitals have any emergency services. One local one is run by nuns and is dedicated to recovery and rehabilitation.
So as submitters and reviewers, do be cautious about what locations you nominate or accept. And as players, be acutely wary of how you behave in/near such places.
Hospitals can certainly restrict access and submit takedown requests if players aren't respectful. Barring that, there's nothing about a hospital (or military bases, even) that prevents nominations that meet criteria. People live and work there and there are public spaces with good POIs that are explicitly meant for socialization, recreation, and exploration.
I can see both sides of this..... as someone who played PoGo while my mom spent a significant portion of her final months in the hospital, I was grateful to be able to reach 4 stops from her room. BUT that same hospital has an ER that covers pretty much the entire ground/basement floor, so there's literally nowhere there that isn't reachable from somewhere that could obstruct emergency stuff, even if it's a garden/playground on a different level. So it's definitely a tough call to make 🤷
OK, but if something is reachable from everywhere, it’s difficult to claim that it’s blocking or disrupting anything….
I get your concern, but at some point we have to just rely on people having some common sense and getting out of the way if a gurney is flying down a random hallway. After all the game warns you to remain aware of your surroundings every time you start it for a reason.
In the "Rejection Criteria" set forth by Niantic Wayfarer, it says that hospitals are disapproved in the "Ineligible location, place, or object" section.
”Location obstructs the driveways of emergency services or may interfere with the operations of fire stations, police stations, hospitals, military bases, industrial sites, power plants, or air traffic control towers”
Fire stations, police stations, hospitals, military bases, industrial sites, power plants, and air traffic control towers are explicitly prohibited. In addition, other locations that fall under the category of "Location obstructs the driveways of emergency services" are also prohibited.
It does not say that POIs on hospital grounds that do not threaten to interfere with emergency services will be approved.
I am only stating this rejection criteria.
A hospital is a place where people receive treatment.
Hospitals are places for people to be healed, not for us to be healed by playing games for distraction.
I work in medical publication and education. I work with a countless number of hospitals all around the country. Hospitals are not just for emergencies or the sick. Hospitals today have a number of functions that are as varied as their are hospitals. Some are teaching hospitals. Some hold lectures, classes, community outreach. Some have museums and often have cafe's open to the public. Yes a lot of the access has changed recently due to COVID but outside of this many hospitals are considered semi-public spaces.
If a nominated POI appears to obstruct or block emergency services, in anyway, rejection 100%. But a memorial plague in the museum wing of an old hospital, or a patient recovery garden, or a large sculpture in the main entrance of a hospital are not blocking emergency services and are acceptable if the nomination warrants such.
If you just think of a hospital as the emergency room I get the sentiment. Coming from nearly two decades of working with hospitals they are much much more then that.
Hospitals are not the place to play games? So what? Libraries are places to play games? What about shrines, post offices? Are you going to deny everything like this?
I think you missed my point that the main area people would be concerned about is the part that is easily accessible for those with permission while things that could be eligible are an elevator-ride away and much harder for Joe Civillian or Jane Visitor to reach. There might be a play area on the 4th floor, or a cool piece of art in the basement cafeteria (below the ER floor), but it’s hard to get there unless you know where it is. The ER, on the other hand, is very easy to get to if you have reason to be in the building.
I'm sorry that players in your area behave so badly.
It seems that in many other cities and countries people are able to play outside without disturbing the operation of hospitals and having some PoI inside allow patients and visitors to have something else to do while they stay at those locations.
I'm honestly kind of confused by this whole thread, because there's a fundamental thing nobody seems to consider: there are barely any eligible things where you could interfere with emergency operations in a hospital. What eligible item could there be in an ICU? In an operating theatre? In the ambulance entrance? There are no art pieces, memorial plaques or other similar stuff there exactly because people are not supposed to just stand there. Hospitals are designed in a way not to lure random people in the way of emergency services.
On the other hand - as someone who has unfortunately recently spent some time in hospitals -, I see absolutely zero reason why a Wayspot couldn't be in the hospital garden (which is usually designed in a way to stimulate patients and visitors), in the waiting room or in the visitor entrance hall. Those are places where people stay (sometimes for extended amounts of time) and there are often objects of interest (precisely to distract people from all the health-related stuff they usually worry about in those places).
I think the guidelines are clear and common sense agrees with them: if something is in the way of actual emergency operations, reject it (but I don't think I've ever seen a nomination that was, though). If it's not, don't.
Niantic has clearly said that Hospital submissions are fine as long as they don't block ambulance/emergency access.
Unfortunately most reviewers have not got the message so your viable submission there will get wrongly rejected.
"Or may interfere with the operations of ... hospitals".
Simple interpretation - don't nominate or approve any hospital location POIs - easier all round to understand. Otherwise, we end up with yet another round of "but if you read it this way / but it does not explicitily say not to do xx then it should be approved" discussions. Interpreting the Niantic criteria does not require a battery of lawyers or a bunch of Supreme Court justices to pick apart the supposed nuances of the Niantic criteria. Niantic should really tighten some of them up and "just say no".
As for me, (as someone who spends far too much time in and around these sorts od places, anything on a Hospital site is going to get an "auto-1*" review.
Nuance need not be a bad thing.
Why can’t we accept a non-chain restaurant or coffeehouse or two in each community?
Why can’t we have hiking/biking trails?
Why shouldn’t we have gardens, fountains, sculpture POI on hospital grounds?
Why should we discourage nominating nice areas in favor of Sign-feld? (A whole program about nothing)
Just say no to memes and allow for properly nuanced interpretation.
So your quoting something that disproves what your trying to say. If the poi does not block the operations of the hospital and does not interfere with emergency services it is completely fine. The days of pokemon go craze are far gone unless you live in the year 2016
I understand your position, but I generally disagree with the "turn your brain off" approach to these things. I'm a physician and spend a good amount of time in hospitals (some would say most of my waking hours). I would never advocate for stops that pose the risk for interfering with hospital operations (mostly critical care or emergency services). Most hospitals however are fairly large entities with a lot more to offer than just those services. A lot of physicians see patients in an outpatient setting (scheduled appointments) within hospitals, there are also community resources offered within the hospitals, and some fairly impressive artistic pieces exist in hospitals. To just ignore all of this and just putting a blanket "never approve, only 1-star" for anything on hospital grounds is just kind of mentally lazy.
When my daughter was born a few months ago, it was a lifesaver to have two Pokestops within reach of her room (one in the hospital, one in the park across the street), as I spent 20+ hours a day for three days in that room and there was an event going on. For people hospitalized for long periods, those hospital POIs are a huge quality of life upgrade.
The ER and front entrances should not be submitted, but hospitals often have gardens, chapels, exercise areas, statuary, art, historical markers, and other iconography that qualifies as visually unique and culturally relevant. They are great places to play, and the only places to play for those who are sick or incapacitated.
I would urge anyone who issues blanket rejections at hospital sites to adhere to the actual guideline rather than the one they made up.
Same as above, very fortunate that I had 2 Pokestops and a Gym whilst in hospital. They definitely are eligible, but having the catch all blocks emergency services reason, it is very easy to pool all the submissions together there.
Besides that, the POI at my local hospital tended to be near outside staff / resting areas where people grab fresh air, lunch or a cigarette. There is also plenty of public transport so that can be considered too. Hope this helps someone!