Privacy and Policies

Privacy Policy

Lakelands Public Health is committed to ensuring personal and health information is kept confidential. The information we are required to keep private includes identifiable information about you like your name, phone number, home address, email address, date of birth, details of financial transactions, etc. It also includes medical histories, test and laboratory results, insurance information, and other data that a healthcare professional collects to identify you and to provide a service.

According to the law and corporate and organizational policies information is stored and disposed of in governance with the acts below.

• Health Protection and Promotion Act
• Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA)
  • governs access to general municipal information and privacy.
• Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA)
  • specifically protects personal health information.

Overview of Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA)

The MFIPPA applies to municipal institutions, including public health units.

Its main purposes are:

• Access to Information: Individuals have the right to request records held by public health.
• Privacy Protection: MFIPPA regulates the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by public health.
• Scope: MFIPPA covers general personal information, such as contact details, employment history, or correspondence, but does not apply to personal health information.  

Overview of Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA)

The PHIPA is Ontario’s health-specific privacy legislation. It governs:

• Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Health Information: PHIPA applies to health information custodians (HICs), including Medical Officers of Health for local public health units.
• Individual Rights: Individuals can access their personal health information, request corrections, and authorize substitute decision-makers to access records in certain circumstances.
• Purpose: PHIPA ensures that personal health information is protected while allowing necessary sharing for effective healthcare delivery and health system management.

PHIPA focuses exclusively on personal health information, which includes medical history, test results, treatment details, and billing information.

Summary

In essence, MFIPPA is a broad public-sector privacy and access law for municipal and local institutions, including public health, while PHIPA is a specialized law designed to protect the privacy of personal health information and regulate its use within the healthcare system. Organizations, like public health, that are both municipal institutions and health information custodians must comply with both laws, applying each statute according to the type of information involved. These Acts govern the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal and personal health information. We also follow other applicable provincial and municipal legislation.

To request information under the MFIPPA or Freedom of Information (FOI) request, please fill out this form. Please be advised there is a $5.00 fee for each request which can be paid via debt. machine, cash or cheque.

To request information under the PHIPA, please fill out this form. (add link see attached PHIPA Form)

You can send in your request electronically to privacy@lakelandsph.ca, or bring it into one of our office locations.

Keeping you informed

We will tell you why we need any information and what it will be used for. This may be through an in-person meeting, over the phone, or through written or electronic notice.

We collect information from you or your substitute decision-maker when we have your consent, or from others when we're required to do so by law. You may change or withdraw your consent at any time by notifying us in writing.

If you have questions about the collection and use of your information you can contact Lakelands Public Health, at 1-844-575-4567.

Online privacy

We collect information when you visit our website, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address to track visitor movement to analyze trends and gather broad demographic information to improve our website. Please note that IP addresses do not include personally identifiable information.

Voluntary survey feedback

We may request information from website visitors in the form of surveys. Participating in a survey is voluntary. Survey information is only used for monitoring and improving the use and satisfaction of our website, services, and programs.

Social Media Policy

We look forward to interacting with you online and encourage your participation across our channels @PHLakelands.

Social media pages are intended for social networking, information sharing and engagement in helping you make healthy choices. If you require support or additional information, visit our website at www.LakelandsPH.ca or contact us at 1-844-575-4567. We ask that you please follow the Social Media Community Standards and the terms of use outlined below.

Terms of Use

Lakelands Public Health aims to provide safe spaces for all residents, both in-person and online. All interactions on our social media accounts must be respectful, professional and constructive. All accounts are monitored daily and we reserve the right to remove any comments that include any content we deem inappropriate, such as:

• Harassment, bullying, threats, slander, obscenity, profanity, and any other posts that are hateful, degrading or abusive.
• Inaccurate information, opinion-based theories, conspiracy theories or harmful health practices.
• Violation of a staff or client’s privacy.
• Violation of legal rights of another party, including intellectual property, or infringement of Canadian copyright regulations.
• Contains unsolicited promotional material (including promotion/endorsement of political parties and/or religious organizations)
• Promotes illegal activity.

In addition to removing inappropriate comments, we reserve the right to block or remove access to repeat offenders of this policy.

When interacting with Lakelands Public Health online, please refrain from including personal information as all our social media pages are public. If personal information is posted on our public pages, we reserve the right to remove it and we take on no responsibility for usage of your information by third parties.

Reuse of Video Content

Lakelands Public Health welcomes the reuse of its videos for educational purposes. Should you wish to use a video, please email info@lakelandsph.ca for permission.

Please note that we will not allow for any video modification or editing and will require that credit is given.

Online Interaction

Lakelands Public Health social media accounts are monitored Monday – Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

We follow, like, and share content that we deem is of value to our followers. Please note that being followed, liked or re-posted does not imply endorsement of any kind.

Direct messages, replies and comments on our social media accounts are monitored regularly and will be responded to as needed.

By posting any content on our social media pages, users agree to these Social Media Community Standards.

Thank you. We look forward to engaging with you online!