When you have come to Mainland Hearing with your hearing loss needs, you entrust us with your personal information. Mainland Hearing is committed to the protection of your personal information and we have established policies and procedures regarding the way we treat your personal information.

Personal information is information about you as an identifiable individual.

Mainland Hearing's Privacy Officer is accountable for the protection of your personal information and for compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act, this policy and where appropriate, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

What personal information we collect and use?

We only collect personal information necessary for us to provide the hearing loss services we have been retained to provide. These include:

• your name, home address, email address, telephone number,
• date of birth,
• family physician and
• third party hearing loss claim or file number (if applicable)
• Credit card information or similar information relating to payment for our services
• Personal Health Number;
• Personal and family medical history if relevant;
• Hearing test results;
• Measurements necessary to provide appropriate hearing aids or hearing loss services.

Except where permitted to do so by law, we only collect and use your personal information after we have provided you with the purpose for which we collect the personal information and after you have consented to our doing so. We will not use your personal information for any additional use unless we advise you of the additional intended use and obtain your consent.

Mainland Hearing will make reasonable efforts to ensure that your personal information si as accurate, complete and current as required for the purposes for which we collect it.

How we use and disclose your personal information?

• To provide the services and products we have been retained to provide;
• To meet legal and regulatory requirements;
• To notify third party providers such as WorkSafe BC, Veterans Affairs or insurers of your personal information necessary to fulfill our contractual requirements with them pursuant to which we provide our services to you and to be paid for our products and services.
• To improve our services to you.

Mainland Hearing reserves the right to disclose your personal information as allowed or required by law.

From time to time, we may send you information about advances in the products and services we offer, which may be of interest to you. You can withdraw your consent to receive this information at any time by contacting us via phone or email.

How we ensure the security of your personal information?

Mainland Hearing is committed to ensuring that the appropriate security measures are employed with regard to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information.

Access to your personal hard copy file is strictly limited to employees of Mainland Hearing who need to use the personal information to provide our services to you. Our offices are equipped with locking filing cabinets and/or alarm systems for the building. Any hard copy records not required will be rendered unreadable, typically by shredding, before disposal. Electronic records kept on our computers are protected by passwords firewalls, and where appropriate encryption. Where a hard drive containing personal information is no longer used, all personal information will be removed or rendered un before the hard drive is disposed of.

While Mainland is committed to taking all reasonable steps to ensure the security and privacy of your personal information, it is possible that, despite our best efforts, our security systems may be breached (for example, break-in, computer hacking).

If this occurs, we will notify you of the nature of the breach, what personal information has been taken or compromised and what steps we have taken to correct the breach and retrieve the information. After any such incident, Mainland Hearing will review the incident with staff and service providers to determine what, if any, security steps were not used or misused and what further steps Mainland can take to prevent reoccurrence.

Where your hearing services are being paid for through a third party such as Worksafe BC or Veterans Affairs, we reserve the right to notify the third party provided of a security breach and any personal information that was taken or compromised. Where appropriate we will notify the police and in the course of doing so, may notify them of any personal information that was taken or compromised.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We maintain your personal information while you are a patient and for a period of > years thereafter, unless required to keep it for a longer period by legal or regulatory requirements.

All patient personal information in our custody or control is only stored in and is accessible only from Canada.

We do not transfer, sell or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third parties without your consent except as required for the purposes of administering your hearing services and providing information requested from authorized government organizations (i.e. Veterans' Affairs, WCB, NIHB).

How do I access my personal information?

Except where we are required or permitted to refuse access to your personal information by law, you have at all times during regular business hours the right to access your personal information in our custody or control. We require two business days notice and reserve the right to charge for photocopying documents and for searches for your personal information but shall advise you in advance if we intend to charge and what any charge will be.

If we refuse access to your personal information, we will notify you of the reason why.

Commitment to Assist

We are committed to assisting you with any questions or concerns about how we collect, use, or disclose your personal information or how to obtain access to your personal information. If you have questions or concerns, please direct them to:

Mainland Hearing

Privacy Officer- Caroline Haslam.
1239 West Broadway.
Vancouver, B.C..
V6H 1G7.
Tel: 604-734-4327.

f you are dissatisfied with any response which you receive from us relating to your personal information, you may file a complaint with:

Office of the Information and Privacy

Commissioner for British Columbia
PO Box 9038, Stn. Prov. Govt.
Victoria, BC V8W 9A4.

Location: 4th Floor, 947 Fort Street, Victoria BC V8V 3K3

Telephone: (250) 387-5629

Facsimile: (250) 387-1696

E-mail: info@oipc.bc.ca