We, at the Downtown Wellness Centre are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information in a responsible manner, and only to the extent that it is necessary for the services we provide.

Please note that in this document, patient and client are considered to be interchangeable terms.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information refers to any information that can identify an individual. Personal information that we collect may include:

Name, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, date of birth, social insurance number, occupation, name of employer, place of employment, insurance company, insurance coverage, education, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, health history, health records, family history, hours of work, income, activities or views e.g. religion, politics, opinions, community involvement.  Information related to a person's business is not protected by privacy legislation.

Who Are We?

We are the health practitioners and staff at the Downtown Wellness Centre.

Collecting Personal Information:

Primary purposes: For our clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to help us assess what your health concerns are, to advise you of your options, to provide the health care you desire and to establish and maintain contact with you.

Related purposes: For our clients, related purposes for collecting personal information include: invoicing and statements, accounting and tax records, follow up services, quality control, communication with other health care providers, insurance claims, education (e.g. newsletters/articles, seminar announcements), marketing and compliance with regulation by a licensing/regulatory body. You can choose not to be part of some of these related purposes; for example, declining seminar announcements or newsletters. Please be aware that it may not be possible to decline some of the related purposes, such as information required by a regulatory body.

For members of the general public (non-clients), our primary purpose for collecting personal information is to allow the practitioners or staff to follow up on inquiries, ensure your request was properly handled (quality control), and provide information updates if you have expressed interest in receiving such notices.

Protecting Personal Information:

We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken steps to safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, use or tampering.

Safeguards are in place to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.

Your personal information is protected, whether it is recorded on paper or electronically.

Practitioners and staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Retention and Destruction of Personal Information

We are required by Provincial Licensing that both Chiropractors and Naturopathic Physicians must retain client files (containing personal information) for a minimum of seven years.

Care is exercised in the destruction of personal information to prevent unauthorized access to the information even during disposal and destruction.

Accuracy of Personal Information:

This clinic endeavors to ensure that your personal information is as accurate, complete, and as up-to-date as necessary for the purposes that it is to be used.

Information shall be sufficiently accurate, complete and up-to-date to minimize the possibility that inappropriate information is used to make a decision about you as our patient.

With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you.

If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed.

Consent:

This clinic will seek informed consent for the collection use and/or disclosure of personal information, except where it might be inappropriate to obtain your consent, and subject to some exceptions set out in law.

Consent is required for the collection of personal information and subsequent use or disclosure of that information. In order for the principles of consent to be satisfied, our clinic has undertaken reasonable efforts to ensure that you are advised of the purposes for which information is being used, and that you understand those purposes. Once consent is obtained, we do not need to seek your consent again, unless the use, purpose or disclosure changes.

Consent for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information may be given in a number of ways, such as:

• signed medical history form;
• signed introductory questionnaire;
• taken verbally over the telephone and then charted;
• e-mail;
• written correspondence. 

You may withdraw consent upon reasonable notice.

Do You Have a Concern?

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversees the administration of the privacy legislation in the private sector. The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman for privacy disputes. The Information and Privacy Commissioner can be reached at:

Website: www.privcom.gc.ca