CANADIAN VIRTUAL HOSPICE ("CVH")

LEGAL NOTICES

INTENDED FOR USE IN CANADA ONLY

Table of Contents

1. Medical Advice Disclaimers

2. "Ask A Professional"

3. Privacy Policy

4. Service Use and Restrictions

5. How you may use the Content

6. How you may use our marks

7. Links to other sites

8. Liability disclaimer

9. Use of interactive areas

10. Indemnity

11. Jurisdiction

12. Complete Agreement

TO ALL USERS (INCLUDING HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS):

PLEASE READ THESE LEGAL NOTICES CAREFULLY BEFORE MAKING ANY FURTHER USE OF THE CVH WEBSITE ("Site"). BY SUBMITTING A REGISTRATION OR BY FURTHER USING THE SITE (EVEN WITHOUT REGISTERING), YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE LEGAL NOTICES AND YOUR AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THEM. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT REGISTER OR MAKE ANY FURTHER USE OF THE SITE.

CVH reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change these Legal Notices from time to time, and your accessing the Site will be deemed to be your acceptance of any changes. Since your continued use of the Site will mean you accept those changes, it is your responsibility to periodically review CVH’s Legal Notices.

1. MEDICAL ADVICE DISCLAIMERS

THIS SITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE.

a. The information and material contained on this Site ("Content") is provided for informational purposes only. It is general in nature, and is not intended in any way to be a substitute for a medical exam or professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard or delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read on the Site. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs (including any herbal medicines or supplements) or following any treatment or regimen. Only your doctor or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for you.

DO NOT USE THIS SITE FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICES. IN AN EMERGENCY, CALL 911 OR YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE NUMBER.

b. CVH does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the Site. Reliance on any information provided by CVH, by CVH’s employees, collaborators, health care professionals, partners, licensors or suppliers (collectively referred to as "Licensors and Suppliers") appearing on the Site at the invitation of CVH, or by other visitors to the Site, is solely at your own risk.

c. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Site contains interactive areas such as bulletin boards where users may exchange information with other users and/or Licensors and Suppliers. You acknowledge and agree that CVH is only an intermediary that provides this particular service to permit the exchange of information, and that CVH bears no responsibility or liability of any nature or kind whatsoever for any claims that may arise directly or indirectly from providing this service or any other service (including "Ask a Professional") or from any Content.

d. CVH is not responsible and shall not be liable for the listings, advertisements, hyperlinks and bulletin boards contained on the Site, and those listings or advertisements may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors notwithstanding our efforts to eliminate them. Any opinions expressed anywhere on the Site are the opinions of the authors and not of CVH. We do not check for licenses prior to publishing listings or advertisements, and we do not assume any responsibility for monitoring the use of trademarks, certifications, copyrights or other rights of third parties.

e. CVH staff may include physicians and other medical practitioners including, but not limited to, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, spiritual care advisers and other health care professionals. These professionals are available solely to assist you in general research. They will not engage in any conduct that involves the practice of medicine. Professionals engaged by CVH will not retain any records, monitor your care or establish a confidential patient relationship with you, so do not share any personal medical information you want to be held confidential.

f. The Site may contain health or medical related materials which may be sexually explicit and which you may find offensive. While CVH and its Licensors and Suppliers endeavour to ensure that any such material is both pertinent and responsibly presented, the responsibility for determining which material you choose to access is yours alone. You are responsible for compliance with the laws of your local jurisdiction regarding accessing, importing, exporting, or re-exporting the contents of the Site.

g. The Content on the Site has been developed for use in Canada only, and may be appropriate for use in other countries as well. However, where the Content refers to cultural, dietary, societal, language, prescribing or dispensing conditions (including those imposed by law), these refer only to conditions found within Canada.

h. Neither CVH nor any of the Licensors and Suppliers makes any warranty that the Content on the Site satisfies government regulations requiring disclosure of information on prescription drug products.

2. "ASK A PROFESSIONAL"

a. "Ask A Professional" provides patients and their family and friends an opportunity, via the Site, to ask health care professionals questions about various aspects of life-threatening illnesses. A health care professional will usually respond to your inquiry within one to three business days.

b. This service is intended to assist you in obtaining general medical information and in identifying additional resources about palliative care. The general medical information may help you to communicate more effectively and efficiently with the treating physician and other health care professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of the patient.

c. In responding to any inquiry from you, our health care professional is not providing medical advice or health care services to you and has not established a health care professional-patient relationship with you. The information that our health care professional may provide to you is not a substitute for professional health care services provided by or under the supervision of a physician with whom you have established a doctor-patient relationship. Thorough consideration of a medical subject as applied to your circumstances can and should only occur through consultation by you with your physician.

d. The particular health care professional who responds to your inquiry may be different from the health care professional who responded to an inquiry that you may have sent previously, and may not be aware of any prior communications that you may have had with any of our other health care professionals through this service. Although a record of your inquiry and our health care professional’s response may be maintained, this record would not be considered a "medical record." None of our health care professionals will communicate with your physician or any other health care professional who may be treating you, and the sole method of communication offered through this service is via the Site with you. The response of our health care professionals will contain only summary information on a subject and may not reflect all recent developments or all material information about a subject.

3. PRIVACY POLICY

 

4. SERVICE USE AND RESTRICTIONS

a. You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Site.

b. CVH is providing you with access to information about palliative care, on the Internet free of charge, and makes no representations about the suitability or content of the information or services provided on the Site, or posted to or linked from the Site.

c. CVH makes no guarantees that it will be able to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing or tampering with our files. Information other than personal information provided to CVH by you will not be treated as confidential. Personal information provided to CVH by you will be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Do not send or post anything that you deem confidential or proprietary. Other than personal information, any feedback, data, answers, questions, comments, suggestions, ideas or the like which you send to us may be used by CVH or its affiliates for any purpose including, but not limited to, reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast and posting. CVH is free to use, without any compensation to you, any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained in any communication you send to the Site for any purpose whatsoever including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing, marketing and providing products and/or services using any such ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques.

d. CVH may change or discontinue Content, or make improvements and/or changes in the products, services, and/or programs described in these materials, at any time without notice. The Content on the Site is provided to you free of charge, "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. CVH ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY OF ANY NATURE OR KIND WHATSOEVER FOR OR RELATING TO THE USE OF THE SITE, ANY INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, OR ANY DELAY, FAILURE, INTERRUPTION OR CORRUPTION OF ANY DATA OR OTHER INFORMATION TRANSMITTED TO OR USED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY USE OF THE SITE.

e. When you initially register for the Site, you will be asked to select a user name and password. Please keep that password confidential. Please inform CVH promptly if there is a change in the information you provided to CVH at the time of registration, including change of address or name. CVH reserves the right to reject or change any user name you select for any reason at its sole discretion.

5. HOW YOU MAY USE THE CONTENT

So long as you accept these Legal Notices and agree to be bound by them, CVH authorizes you to view the Content on this Site solely for your personal, non-commercial use. The Content on this Site, as well as all software related to this Site, is protected by copyright under both Canadian and foreign laws, and title to the Content or any such software shall not pass to you or any third party. Unauthorized use of the Content or any such software may violate copyright, trademark, other intellectual property rights and various laws. None of the Content may be reproduced, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, re-transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photoreproduction, recordation or otherwise), resold or redistributed in any manner that does not constitute personal, non-commercial use without the prior written consent of CVH. None of the software related to this Site may be reverse-engineered, disassembled, decompiled, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or computer language, re-transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photoreproduction, recordation or otherwise), resold or redistributed without the prior written consent of CVH. No derivative works may be made of this Site, any of the Content or any of the software related to this Site.

6. HOW YOU MAY USE OUR MARKS

The CVH names and logos and all related product and service names, design marks and slogans are the trademarks or service marks of Canadian Virtual Hospice. You are not authorized to use any CVH name, logo, mark or slogan in any advertising or publicity or in any other commercial manner without the prior written consent of CVH. Requests for authorization should be made to the Executive Director, Canadian Virtual Hospice at Room PE468, Administration Building, 1 Morley Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3L 2P4.

7. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

CVH provides links to selected medical and palliative information, resources and services that are consistent with the mission of the Site.

a. All product and service marks contained herein that are not CVH marks are the trademarks of their respective owners. References that we make to any names, marks, products or services of third parties or hypertext links to third party sites or information do not necessarily constitute or imply our endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation of the third party, information, product, or service.

b. CVH is not responsible for the content of any site linked to or from the Site or for any health care provider whose name, address, telephone number, fax number or e-mail address may be listed on the Site. Linking to any other site or contacting any health care provider whose contact information is found on the Site is entirely at your own risk. While CVH may provide links on this Site to other sites and contact information about health care providers, the inclusion of such links and contact information is solely for your convenience and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the owner/sponsor of the site, the content of the site, or of the healthcare provider whose contact information is provided.

c. CVH disclaims all warranties, express or implied, statutory or otherwise, as to the accuracy, validity and legality of any materials or information contained in any site linked to or from the Site. CVH bears no responsibility or liability of any nature or kind whatsoever for the content or information contained on those other sites, and does not exert any editorial or other control over those other sites.

8. LIABILITY DISCLAIMER

a. REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), IN NO EVENT WILL CVH OR ANY OF THE LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSSES, DAMAGES OR INJURIES OF ANY NATURE OR KIND WHATSOEVER TO PERSONS OR PROPERTY DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ARISING FROM OR ATTRIBUTABLE TO ANY USE OF THE SITE OR ANY PRODUCT, INFORMATION, IDEA, INSTRUCTION OR OTHER CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE SITE OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITE. RELIANCE ON ANY CONTENT CONTAINED ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

b. If the limitation of liability set forth in Section 8.a is held unenforceable or inapplicable for any reason whatsoever, you agree that your sole remedy is to stop using the Site.

9. USE OF INTERACTIVE AREAS

a. CVH may from time to time place interactive areas on the Site, which are solely to enable communication between Site users. CVH may also from time to time place e-mail links on the Site, which are solely to enable Site users to communicate by e-mail with CVH. CVH accepts no responsibility or liability for the opinions and information posted by any user of the Site on any of these interactive areas. CVH disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted in any of these interactive areas, whether posted by CVH or any third party. If you use an interactive area, you must realize that this is a public area, and you agree that you are solely responsible for your own communications, the consequences of posting those communications, and your reliance on any communications found in that interactive area. IN CASES WHERE YOU FEEL THREATENED OR BELIEVE SOMEONE ELSE IS IN DANGER, YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IMMEDIATELY. IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, CALL YOUR DOCTOR OR 911 IMMEDIATELY.

b. Although CVH does not screen communications in advance and is not responsible for screening or monitoring material posted by users, it may from time to time monitor or review discussions, postings or transmissions on any interactive area. CVH does not do so actively or regularly, is under no obligation to do so, and assumes no responsibility or liability of any nature or kind whatsoever arising from the content of any such communication or for any error, defamation, libel, obscenity, profanity or inaccuracy contained in any such communication.

c. Other than personal information, any information that you post on the Site is considered to be non-confidential. You warrant that any information that you upload or transmit to the Site does not infringe any privacy, patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party. By uploading or transmitting information you grant to CVH a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, create derivative works from, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display the information alone or as part of other works in any form, media or technology, whether now known or hereafter developed, and to sub-license such rights through multiple tiers of sub-licenses. Additionally, with the exception of any personal information contained therein, CVH has the right to use any questions, comments, or other information submitted by users in books, articles, commentaries, research or in similar ways, without the consent of any user.

d. In consideration of being allowed to use the interactive areas, you agree that you shall refrain from the following prohibited conduct and that such conduct shall constitute a material breach of the Legal Notices. You are prohibited from posting or transmitting slanderous, unlawful, threatening, defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic, profane, fictitious, licentious, lewd, violent, hateful, abusive, insulting, harassing or threatening material or any material that could constitute or encourage conduct that would be considered a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, provincial, federal or foreign law. You are prohibited from any form of direct or indirect personal attack or harassment. You are prohibited from posting any material that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others or on the privacy or publicity rights of others. You are prohibited from posting advertisements or solicitations of business unless CVH creates a portion of the Site expressly for this purpose. You are prohibited from impersonating other people, posting chain letters or pyramid schemes, "spamming" (ie. sending a message more than once), posting or transmitting charity requests or petitions for signatures, and sending unsolicited mass e-mailings to other users. You are prohibited from posting any information which contains any virus, worm, trojan horse or other code which is contaminating or destructive to the files or programs of CVH or any of its users or any other parties.

e. CVH reserves the right, but is not obligated, to record, monitor, investigate, edit, disclose, delete or remove any Content or other information from the Site for any reason, and/or to suspend or terminate any user’s use of or access to all or any portion of the Site as a result of any breach of these Legal Notices by that user.

10. INDEMNITY

a. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold CVH, the Licensors and Suppliers, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and other representatives harmless from and against any and all actions, claims or demands, settlements, liabilities, losses, damages and expenses (including legal fees) incurred by or involving any of them which are in any way related to or alleged to result from your use of the Content or the Site, including any breach of the Legal Notices by you. CVH shall provide notice to you promptly of any such action, claim or demand and shall reasonably cooperate with you at your expense in your defence of any such action, claim or demand.

11. JURISDICTION

a. Your use of the Site and these Legal Notices are governed by the laws of the Province of Manitoba and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein. You expressly agree that the courts of Manitoba shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction for any action, claim or demand of any nature or kind whatsoever involving the Site, CVH, any Licensor or Supplier or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, agents or other representatives.

b. The CVH operates in the Province of Manitoba and it makes no representation or warranty whatsoever that the Content found on the Site is appropriate or available for use in any jurisdiction other than the country of Canada. If you access the Site from any location outside of Canada, you are responsible for compliance with local laws.

12. COMPLETE AGREEMENT

a. Except as otherwise expressly provided in a particular Legal Notice on the Site, these terms and conditions and the Privacy Policy, and any amendments thereto made by CVH, constitute the entire agreement between you and CVH with respect to your use of the Site.

b. If any provision of these Legal Notices is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Legal Notices, which shall remain in full force and effect.

c. Any waiver by CVH of any breach of any Legal Notice must be in writing and signed by an authorized officer of CVH in order for such waiver to be binding on CVH. No waiver of any Legal Notice shall be deemed a waiver of any other Legal Notice or of any other breach of that Legal Notice by that user or any other user.

 

LEGAL NOTICES APPLICABLE TO ANY USE OF THE CANADIAN VIRTUAL HOSPICE
(“CVH”) WEBSITE – HIGHLIGHTS

There are certain terms and conditions (the "Legal Notices") which will apply to any use that you may make of this website (the "Site").  

Certain portions of the Site may be accessed without you having to review the full text of the Legal Notices. Other portions of the Site will require you to do so. The Site will automatically prompt you to do so whenever this is necessary. 

The highlights of the Legal Notices are as follows. For more information, please review the full Legal Notices. 

PLEASE READ THESE LEGAL NOTICE HIGHLIGHTS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SITE. BY SUBMITTING A REGISTRATION OR BY USING THE SITE (EVEN WITHOUT REGISTERING), YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND YOUR AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THEM. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT REGISTER OR USE THE SITE.

THIS SITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE.

The information and material contained on this Site ("Content") is provided for informational purposes only. It is general in nature, and is not intended in any way to be a substitute for a medical exam or professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard or delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read on the Site. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs (including any herbal medicines or supplements) or following any treatment or regimen. Only your doctor or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for you.

If you use our "Ask a Professional" Service, any information that our health care professional may provide to you is not a substitute for professional health care services provided by or under the supervision of a physician with whom you have established a doctor-patient relationship. Thorough consideration of a medical subject as applied to your circumstances can and should only occur through consultation by you with your physician.

DO NOT USE THIS SITE FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICES. IN AN EMERGENCY, CALL 911 OR YOUR LOCAL EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE NUMBER.

The Content is provided free of charge for personal non-commercial use, and "As Is, As Available". Your use of any Content contained on or accessed through the Site is at your risk.

CVH is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury of any nature or kind whatsoever which is attributable to any use of the Site or any of the Content. 

The Site is intended for use in Canada only. Your use of the Site is governed by the laws of the Province of Manitoba and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein.

CVH reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change the Legal Notices and/or the Legal Notice Highlights from time to time, and your accessing the Site will be deemed to be your acceptance of any such changes. Since your continued use of the Site will mean you accept those changes, it is your responsibility to periodically review these Highlights and the Legal Notices. 

The Privacy Policy consists of this Overview, the Privacy Principles and the full Privacy Policy.

 

Scope

Highlights of the Canadian Virtual Hospice Privacy Policy

The Privacy Policy applies to information collected at www.virtualhospice.ca.
For more information than that provided below, see the full Privacy Policy and our Privacy Principles.

Important Information

· Our objective is to protect your personal information from inappropriate use or disclosure.
· We do not sell or loan our mailing lists.
· We protect personal information using security safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, applying higher levels of security to information that is more likely to be sensitive.
· Your visits to www.virtualhospice.ca can take place anonymously, without any requirement to supply us with personal information.

Information
Collected

· We collect information directly from you when you register with us.
· We collect information directly from you when you send us an e-mail or ask our health care team a question.
· We collect information directly from you when you sign up for our e-newsletter.
· We use cookies and other Internet technologies to maintain information on your interactions with our website.

Uses

· We use the information you submit to respond to your questions.
· In order to provide service, information is shared with our web hosting service provider
· We may share information with other organizations we contract with in order to perform work on our behalf or help us evaluate our work. All such organizations are required to sign confidentiality agreements.
· We may use your e-mail address to survey your view on our service or to seek your participation in palliative care research.
· We use your information to send you our e-newsletters.

Your Choices

· You can update your log-in information at any time.
· You can decide you don’t want to receive our user satisfaction surveys.
· You can decide you do not want to receive our e-newsletters.

How to Contact Us

If you have any comments or questions about the Privacy Policy or your personal information, please e-mail us at info@virtualhospice.ca

Privacy Principles
The Canadian Virtual Hospice is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information. Personal information includes:

  • name, age and e-mail address,
  • opinions, evaluations and comments,
  • health information and intentions (for example, you might tell us you plan to ask for a certain test).

However, publicly available information, such as a public directory listing of your name, address, telephone number and electronic address, is not considered personal information.

Our ten Privacy Principles help us ensure that we collect, use and disclose personal information in compliance with the federal government’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

1. Accountability

Each employee or other representative of the Canadian Virtual Hospice signs a confidentiality agreement and makes a commitment to protect personal information collected at www.virtualhospice.ca in accordance with the provisions of our Privacy Policy.

In addition, one member of our staff has been named as our Privacy Officer to regularly review our information handling practices.

2. Identifying Purposes: Why We Collect Information

Whenever we collect personal information from you we tell you how we intend to use it. Some of the information you provide is used for evaluation purposes, so that we can make improvements to better serve you and other visitors to the website. Other information helps us to answer your questions.

3. Consent

We ask for your permission to use your personal information at the time we collect it.

All electronic communication (e-mail) with you contains an opt-out feature that allows you to request that we stop communicating with you.

4. Limiting Collection

Your visits to www.virtualhospice.ca can take place anonymously, without any requirement to supply us with personal information. We will not collect any information that might identify you personally without first seeking your consent.

5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention

We collect information from you for a specific purpose. We will seek your permission before using the information for any other purpose.

The Canadian Virtual Hospice does not share personal information with other organizations unless they are performing work on our behalf.

Most of the information we collect is stored, however only as long as necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or as required by law.

6. Accuracy

We rely on individuals to provide us with as up to date and accurate personal information as possible. You can help us maintain the accuracy of your information by notifying us of any changes to your personal information, such as a change of e-mail address.

7. Safeguards

We protect personal information by security safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, applying higher levels of security to information that is more likely to be sensitive. Our objective is to protect your personal information from inappropriate use or disclosure, although we cannot guarantee this.
Our computer usage procedures ensure that personal information stored on our computer systems is password protected. Paper records containing personal information are stored in locked cabinets in our Winnipeg, Manitoba offices.
Access to sensitive personal information is authorized only for Canadian Virtual Hospice employees and service providers who need to see this information in order to do their jobs. 
 

8. Openness

If you have any questions about our full Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer by e-mail, mail, phone or fax. We will be pleased to respond to your concerns. 
 

9. Individual Access

You may request access to your personal information at any time. You will be given reasonable access to your personal information, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. You can also challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and request that it be amended.
 

10. Challenging Compliance

We expect that most of your concerns about privacy can be addressed by our Privacy Officer. If you still have concerns about privacy after dealing with our Privacy Officer, the Executive Director of the Canadian Virtual Hospice will review your concerns and contact you about potential solutions. 

The Canadian Virtual Hospice Privacy Policy

Table of Contents

  1. Consent
  2. Information automatically collected
  3. Personal information you specifically provide
  4. Security
  5. Miscellaneous
  6. CVH Privacy Officer

Protecting privacy is very important to the Canadian Virtual Hospice. Every Canadian Virtual Hospice employee or other representative must abide by our commitment to privacy and the provisions of this Privacy Policy in their handling of personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and protect personal information you may provide while using www.virtualhospice.ca.
Personal information means information about an identifiable individual. However, publicly available information, such as a public directory listing of your name, address, telephone number and electronic address, is not considered personal information.

1. CONSENT
We ask for your permission to use your personal information at the time we collect it. We do not sell or rent your personal information to anyone.

At any time, you may ask us to stop communicating with you. All of our electronic communication (e-mail) contains an opt-out feature that allows you to request that we remove you from our distribution list. Or, you can contact our Privacy Officer directly.
By using www.virtualhospice.ca, you signify your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
There may be times when you disclose personal information about another person, perhaps a patient, family member or friend. By doing so, you signify that you have obtained that person’s consent for the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If that person withdraws their consent, it is your obligation to notify us immediately. 
 

2. INFORMATION AUTOMATICALLY COLLECTED
a. Non-Identifiable Information
The Canadian Virtual Hospice automatically collects certain non-identifiable information regarding website users. We collect and archive this information for website and system administration purposes and to improve the content of www.virtualhospice.ca. This information includes:
· the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of your computer,
· the IP address of your Internet Service Provider,
· the date and time of your visit,
· the Internet address of the website which linked you to www.virtualhospice.ca,
· the operating system you are using,
· the browser software and version that you are using,
· the sections of www.virtualhospice.ca you visit,
· the pages and images you read and view,
· the content you download.
We make no attempt to match any of this information with specific individuals. We do not collect personal information such as your name or e-mail address unless you provide it to us.
b. Cookies
We use “cookies,” a technology that installs information on a website user’s computer to permit the website to recognize future visits using that computer. Cookies help provide us with some of the information listed above, such as how long people stay on certain sections of a website. 

 
Please note that we use Google Analytics. There is more information about how Google collects, uses, and processes data at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/

 

3. PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU SPECIFICALLY PROVIDE 
 

a. Personal Information
If you choose to register with www.virtualhospice.ca, we will ask you to provide personal information such as your name and e-mail address. Registration gives you full access to the site’s interactive features, but there are many other areas that can be viewed without registration. It is always your choice whether or not to provide us with personal information. 
 

b. Use of Personal Information
We collect personal information to help us manage and operate www.virtualhospice.ca.
We may also use personal information to:

  • aggregate for the purposes of palliative care research,
  • send you e-mail or other communications if you have given us consent to do so.

At any time you may ask us to stop sending you e-mail or other information. All electronic communication contains an opt-out feature. Or, you can contact our Privacy Officer to ask that we stop communicating with you.
 

c. Disclosure of Personal Information
We will not disclose your personal information without your consent except in the following circumstances:
(i) Transfer to Service Providers – In order to host www.virtualhospice.ca, we must transfer some of your personal information to certain service providers. Before personal information is transferred, the service provider will agree to protect the privacy of your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Officer can provide you with a list of service providers who may receive personal information. If you do not wish us to transfer your personal information to those service providers, let our Privacy Officer know.
(ii) Disclosure to Palliative Care Researchers – If you provide your further consent, we may disclose some of your personal information to certain palliative care researchers. Before personal information is disclosed, palliative care researchers will agree to protect the privacy of your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Officer can provide you with a list of palliative care researchers who may receive personal information. If you do not wish us to disclose your personal information to palliative care researchers, please do not provide your further consent.
(iii) Disclosure in Business Transfers – The Canadian Virtual Hospice may be involved in the sale or transfer of some or all of its business. As part of that sale or transfer, we may disclose your personal information to the acquiring organization, but will ensure that the acquiring organization agrees to protect the privacy of your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. If at any time you do not wish us to disclose your personal information as part of the sale or transfer of some or all of the Canadian Virtual Hospice’s business, please notify our Privacy Officer.
(iv) Law Enforcement and Legal Disclosure – We may disclose your personal information:
· to a government institution acting within lawful authority to obtain the information
· where we have reasonable grounds to believe the information would be useful in the investigation of unlawful activity
· to comply with a subpoena or warrant or an order made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information
· to comply with court rules regarding the production of records and information
· to our legal counsel.

d. Location of Information
We will process your personal information in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, although the information may be stored on servers outside this location.

e. Securing Your Information
To help protect the confidentiality of your personal information, we employ security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Nevertheless, due to the nature of the Internet and Internet technologies, security and privacy risks cannot be eliminated. Because electronic systems and e-mail are not secure information transmission methods, we cannot guarantee that your personal information will not be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this Privacy Policy.

f. Accessing Your Personal Information
Contact our Privacy Officer if you wish to have access to your personal information. Subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law, you will be given reasonable access to your personal information, and will be entitled to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and to have it amended as appropriate. You can help us maintain the accuracy of your information by notifying us of any changes to your personal information, such as a change of e-mail address.*
 

4. SECURITY
We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology, meaning that personal information you provide to us is encrypted for your protection. This technology works best when you view www.virtualhospice.ca using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. However, personal information that you choose to provide in the interactive public discussion areas may not be encrypted.
 

5. MISCELLANEOUS
a. Third party Websites – We sometimes provide you with links to other websites or Internet resources. Websites provided and maintained by third parties are not subject to this Privacy Policy.
b. Legal Notices – Please also read our Legal Notices. The Privacy Policy must be read in conjunction with our Legal Notices. These notices cover important matters such as legal liability and resolution of disputes relating to the use of www.virtualhospice.ca.
c. Privacy Policy Changes – Please return to the Privacy Policy occasionally, as we may make changes from time to time.
 

6. CVH PRIVACY OFFICER
If you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact the CVH Privacy Officer by e-mail at info@virtualhospice.ca
 

The Canadian Virtual Hospice Privacy Policy has been in force since Sept. 22, 2003. Updates to this policy were made in February 2022.

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