Privacy Policy
Privacy is important to us!
At Haldimand-Norfolk REACH we take privacy very seriously. For this reason, we have several policies and practices in place that help to ensure that the information you share with us is private and confidential unless you give us permission to share this with others. Sometimes, we do share information with our funders that is non-identifying, we share information with supervisors as part of service planning, and sometimes during an agency accreditation process our participant files are reviewed. When an accreditation review occurs, the reviewers are professionals who also sign our agency confidentiality agreement. There are also some limits to privacy when safety may be an issue. Learn more about the agency’s responsibilities to keep your information private, below.
Privacy Statement
Your Personal Health Information
Haldimand-Norfolk REACH supports families, adults and young people with many types of programs and services. We provide counselling programs to people of all ages and to families. We also help youth who are in trouble with the law, and youth over sixteen years old who have no safe place to live. We help adults with special needs and families who have children with special needs. H-N REACH also provides programs that support families with young children.
Collecting Your Personal Health Information
We will ask you and your family to talk to us about you and what has been happening. We will ask you how you think we can help, so that we can plan together for the supports you need. The things you tell us about you, your body, and your feelings are called personal health information. We may get personal health information about you (or your child or someone who is taking care of you) from you or from someone else (such as your doctor or someone else who is helping you). We will only collect, use and share your information with your permission, except where the law allows us to do so.
Giving Out Your Personal Health Information
The law says that we have to keep your personal health information PRIVATE. This means that we will not tell anyone what you tell us, except where we have to, or think that you would want us to. For example, there are times when we may have to tell other people that someone could be hurt or that a child has been hurt or is not being cared for. UNLESS YOU TELL US NOT TO we can talk with someone else who is helping you (such as a doctor or counsellor) so that we can plan together for the supports that you need.
Using Your Personal Health Information
How we use your personal health information:
- To help you at our agency, at school or somewhere else that you have told us is important to you;
- To make decisions about how we can help you;
- To make sure we are helping you as best we can;
- To prevent problems from happening;
- To teach students who may be working with us;
- To study what we do and the people we help;
- If the law tells us we have to use information for other reasons.
Protecting Your Personal Health Information
We will do our best to make sure that any personal health information that we collect is not stolen, lost or used without you saying that we can use it. Everyone who works with us will also do their best to protect your personal health information.
We will let you know if your personal health information is lost or stolen. If you want to know more about how we protect your personal health information ask us for a copy of our Privacy Policy.
Seeing Your Personal Health Information
You can ask to see any personal health information we have about you. If you think your personal health information is wrong or that information is missing, you can ask us to fix any mistakes or add any information. Sometimes we will not be able to show you the personal health information we have or to change what you ask us to. If we cannot fix or show you your personal health information, we will talk with you about why.
How to Contact Us:
Privacy Officer
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the privacy and/or information practices at our agency, or if you are unhappy about something that has been done with your personal health information, please contact our Privacy Officer, Lynn Tessaro at 519-587-2441 Ext. 351.
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
If you are not able to resolve a privacy issue directly with our agency and wish to get in touch with someone else about this, you may contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at 1-800-387-0073 or info@ipc.on.ca.
Print our Privacy Statement (PDF)
© 2024 Haldimand-Norfolk REACH