Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Energy Restoration. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes our privacy policies.
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates to their personal characteristics (e.g. gender, age, income home address, phone number, ethnic background, family status), their health (e.g. health history, health conditions, health services received by them) or their activities and views (e.g. religion, politics, opinions expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual). Personal information is to be contrasted with business information (e.g. an individual’s business address and telephone number) which is not protected by privacy legislation.
Who we are
Our clinic, Energy Restoration, includes massage therapy. We use a number of consultants and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal information we hold. These include our accountant. We restrict their access to any personal information we hold as much as is reasonably possible. We also have their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.
We Collect Personal Information: Primary Purposes
Like all Massage therapy services, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve our clients. For our clients, the primary purposes for collecting personal information we hold are as follows: The information collected helps determine the best course of treatment, monitor progress and change treatment if necessary. We may use this information to provide progress and discharge reports to your physician or other health care providers.
Protecting Personal Information
We understand the importance of protecting personal information For that reason, we have taken the following steps:
- Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area
- Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies
Retention and Destruction of Personal Information
We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided and for our own accountability to eternal regulatory bodies. However, we do not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your privacy.
We keep files for 10 years. Our clients’ files and contact directories are much more difficult to systematically destroy, so we remove such information when we can if it does not appear that we will be contacting you again. However if you ask we will remove such contact information right away.
We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. Alternatively, we may send some of the entire client file to our clients.
You Can Look At Your Information
With only a few exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Often all you have to do is ask. We can help; you identify what records we might gave about you We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g. short-forms, technical language, etc). We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with this access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.
If there is a problem, we may ask you to put your request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason, as best we can, as to why we cannot give you access.
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. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.
Do You Have A Concern?
Our Information Officer, Greg Pressley, can be reached to address any questions or concerns you might have.
If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to Greg Pressley. He will acknowledge receipt of your complaint and ensure that it is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal decision and reasons in writing.
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: 112 Kent Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1H3.
Energy Restoration 