Bluewater Pelvic Health Centre (BPHC) is run and operated by Tiffaney Marlow, Registered Physiotherapist. If you choose to communicate or sign up for services with BPHC, Tiffaney will have access to any personal information you choose to share. She is sensitive to the nature and confidentiality of the information disclosed. Tiffaney Marlow is also acting as Privacy Information Officer.

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 or 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.

Collection of Personal Health Information:
Like all physiotherapists, we collect, use and disclose personal information in order to serve our clients. For our clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide physiotherapy treatment. With your consent we collect your personal health information directly from you, or from the person acting on your behalf.  Examples of the type of personal health information that we collect may include, your name, date of birth, address, health history, records of your visits to Bluewater Pelvic Health Centre, social history and work history.  Information may be collected by telephone, by filling out forms, by personal interview, or as information sent in the form of fax or written letters by other members of your healthcare team. We may sometimes collect personal health information about you from other sources, if we have obtained your consent to do so, or if the law permits.

Uses and Disclosures of Personal Health Information:
Your personal health information will be used and disclosed only for the following purposes:

• To deliver safe and efficient care, including treatment plans and follow-up care.

• To document changes that occurs over time or with treatment.

• To contact you, your family members or health care providers if needed.

• To invoice for services and collect for unpaid accounts.

• To effectively communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in your care.

• Physiotherapists are regulated by the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario who may inspect our records and interview our staff as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations. Sometimes these reports include personal information about our clients, or other individuals, to support the concern (e.g., improper services). Also, like all organizations, various government agencies (e.g., Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.) have the authority to review our files and interview our staff as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants) who will investigate the matter and report back to us.

• We do 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 bookkeepers and accountants, credit card companies and lawyers. 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.

Your Rights:
At any time you may access, correct your personal health records, or withdraw your consent for some of the above uses and disclosures (subject to legal exceptions) by contacting our contact person.

Our Responsibilities:
We take steps to protect your personal health and financial information from theft, loss, unauthorized access, copying, modification, use, disclosure, and disposal. We conduct audits to monitor and manage our privacy compliance. We take steps to ensure that everyone who performs services for us protects your privacy and only uses your personal health information for the purposes you have consented to.

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.

• Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times.  In addition, passwords and two factor authentication are used on computers and electronic systems where available.

• Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.

• Electronic information is transmitted either through direct line or is anonymized or encrypted.

• Staff is trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.

• External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must enter into privacy agreements with us.

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 our services provided and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies.  However, we do not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your privacy. We keep our client files for a period of ten years in a locked and secured facility at all times.  We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding.  We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed.  Alternatively, we may send some or all of the client file to our client, if requested and consent is given.

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 have about you.  We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.).  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 made a mistake, we will still agree to include our file in a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

Contact Us:
To find out more about our privacy protection practices, or raise any concerns, please contact Tiffaney Marlow at:

Phone: 519-491-5233
E-mail: info@bluewaterpelvic.com  

You have the right to file a complaint to the information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario if you think we have violated your rights.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be reached at:
2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto Ontario, M4W 1A8
Tel: Toronto Area: 416-326-3333   Long Distance: 1-800-387-0073  Fax:  416-325-9195

Canadian federal legislation, the PIPEDA, requires us to confirm that we have your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. You can find this in the consent section of our intake forms. We are also governed by the Personal Health Information Protection Act of Ontario (2004)