Privacy Statement

The Canadian Mental Health Association, Chatham-Kent Branch is committed to the protection of your privacy and personal health information.  The personal health information we collect may include your name, date of birth, gender, address, mental and physical health history and care needs, employment status, education, health card number, personal interests and support systems.  Spiritual and cultural information may also be collected.  We make records of your visits and the services you receive during those visits. 

Your knowledge and consent is required for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, except where defined by law.  We collect personal health information about you directly from you or from the person acting on your behalf.  We will not collect personal health information about you from any other source unless we have your consent or if the law permits.   There are two types of consent:

Unspoken Permission (Implied Consent):  When you request and accept admission to our programs you are giving your permission to CMHA Chatham-Kent to properly use your personal health information.

Verbal or Written Permission (Express Consent):  For purposes other than providing your health care we must get your verbal or written permission.

CMHA Chatham-Kent collects personal health information for the following purposes:

• To determine your needs, the services provided to you and to review those services
• To plan, administer and manage internal operations and resources
• To provide statistics to those that fund or regulate our agency
• To conduct risk management, quality improvement and research initiatives
• To provide staff training
• To comply with legal and regulatory requirements
• For other purposes permitted or required by law

Your Choices: You may access and correct your personal health record or withdraw your consent for some or all of the uses listed above by contacting us (subject to legal exceptions).

Protecting Your Privacy

• We take steps to protect your personal health information from theft, loss and unauthorized access, copying, modification, use, disclosure and disposal. 
• We conduct audits of our procedures and complete investigations to monitor and manage our privacy compliance.
• We take steps to ensure that everyone who performs services for us will protect your privacy and use your personal health information only for the purposes you have consented to or as required by law.
• Should there be a need to use or share your personal health information in a manner not described in this statement (e.g. with a housing provider, employer, family member, friend or other person who may be supporting you in your recovery) we will ask for your consent to do so and keep a record of this in your file

Contact Information

If you have questions, concerns or complaints about your personal health information or privacy, contact:

Lesley Hoffman, Privacy Officer
Canadian Mental Health Association, Chatham-Kent Branch
240 Grand Ave. West, Suite 100, Chatham, Ontario  N7L 1C1
Telephone:  519-436-6100   Website:  www.cmhakent.com
If you believe any of your privacy rights have been violated in any way and the Chief Privacy Officer cannot resolve your concerns, you have the right to contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at 1-800-387-0073, by mail: 2 Bloor St. E., Suite 1400, Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8 or through their website:  www.ipc.on.ca.

This Privacy Statement may be updated from time to time.  Our most current Privacy Statement will be available on our website www.cmhakent.com.