Meridian Health Group has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for our web site. 

During a visit to our web site, your privacy is respected. We do not collect personal information about you unless you choose to send us an e-mail, submit a Contact Request form, fill out a questionnaire, or update your subscription to one of our e-mail newsletters (this includes creating a new subscription) in which case you voluntarily provide your name and contact information. This information is protected under the federal privacy act.

A visitor's personal information received via e-mail is provided only to our office personnel, who require this information to respond to inquiries. We do not use this information for any other purpose.

We cannot guarantee the security of information sent via electronic systems or e-mail, and do not recommend you send sensitive personal information (such as credit card or confidential medical history) electronically at this time. You can contact us by postal mail at Meridian Health Group, 190 Wortley Rd. LL-8, London, ON N6C 4Y7, or by calling 519-439-7503.

E-mail Mailing List / Newsletter

A visitor's personal information related to a subscription to one of our e-mail newsletters is contained in a database. This information may be made available to employees of Meridian Health Group or to the Meridian Health Group webmaster for the purpose of maintaining our e-mail newsletter system and to send periodic mailings. We do not use this information for any other purpose. You may remove yourself from our e-mail newsletter by sending a message to cmilton@spineandjointcentre.com with the subject 'Web-Blast E-mail List Removal'.

When a subscriber to our e-mail newsletter opens an issue in their e-mail client (such as Outlook or Outlook Express) or browser (via a service such as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail) this action is detected by our mailing list script. This information cannot be used to identify individual subscribers, only to determine the overall number of times an issue has been read relative to the number of subscribers it was sent to.

Online Questionnaires

The results of all questionnaires submitted through the Meridian Health Group web site are stored in a database. This information may be made available to employees of Meridian Health Group or to the Meridian Health Group webmaster to maintain the questionnaire system, to analyze the combined results of all questionnaires, or to review the results of an individual questionnaire response. We do not use this information for any other purpose.

Server Logs

In the normal course of establishing and maintaining web connections, our web servers automatically log information about visits to our web site. This includes statistical information such as a visitor's IP address, type of operating system, time and duration of visit, web pages requested, and the domain name of the server you are visiting from. These statistics are made available to our web site management team to ensure it provides the optimal experience for visitors.

The server log information collected does not enable us to identify individual visitors. However, we may review server logs for security purposes (i.e. - detect intrusions into our network). The possibility therefore exists that server log data, which contains a visitor's IP address, could in instances of criminal malfeasance be used to trace and identify individuals. In these cases, raw data logs would be shared with the appropriate investigative body. Under normal circumstances logs are retained for a maximum of 365 days.

Cookies

We may also place small data files, called cookies, in the browser file of your computer's hard drive. These cookies automatically identify your browser to our server whenever you interact with our web site. Most browsers automatically accept these cookies, however you can usually change your browser setting to prevent the acceptance of cookies.

Other Notes

Meridian Health Group utilizes an outside organization to develop and maintain its web site. By contacting the Meridian Health Group webmaster, Myplanet Internet Solutions Ltd., you are sending information outside of the organization.

The Meridian Health Group web site may contain links to other web sites not hosted at the web address of http://www.meridianhealthgroup.ca/. These web sites may have different policies for the collection and dissemination of information and are not covered by the Meridian Health Group web site privacy policy.

Contact/Questions

In accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Meridian Health Group has appointed a Privacy Officer to oversee the collection and storage of any personal information obtained through normal business practices. Questions about this policy may be directed to Carol Milton by e-mail at cmilton@spineandjointcentre.com, by phone at 519-439-7503, or by postal mail at Meridian Health Group, 190 Wortley Rd. LL-8, London, ON N6C 4Y7.

Individuals may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, http://www.privcom.gc.ca/, if they are dissatisfied with the response they receive from the Meridian Health Group privacy contact on a privacy concern related to the web site.