Rainy River District Paramedic Services Privacy Statement

The District of Rainy River Services Board (DRRSB) is vitally interested in protecting the privacy of personal information. The Board is committed to collecting, using and disclosing information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. The DRRSB endeavours to be open and transparent as to how they handle personal information.

Privacy encompasses the rights and obligations of individuals and organizations with respect to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information. The collection and storage of personal information should be treated in a manner that is respectful of the individual.

We will ensure that access to your personal health information is limited to those who are involved in your emergency medical care or during your time in our care in non-emergency circumstances. We will further ensure that access to your personal health information by our staff is time-limited.

Collection of personal health information

Paramedics may collect personal health information about you directly from you or from people acting on your behalf, during an emergency or otherwise, while you are under our care. The personal health information that we collect is limited to that which is necessary to provide care and may include: your name, date of birth, address, health history, medications, and/or recent event history.

We use and disclose your personal health information to:

• provide emergency treatment;
• get payment for your treatment and care (from OHIP, WSIB, your private insurer, or others);
• conduct quality improvement activities (such as sending patients satisfaction surveys);
• teach;
• conduct research;
• compile statistics;
• comply with legislative requirements;
• fulfill other purposes permitted or required by law; and
• hospital physicians and staff.

Important information

We take steps to protect your personal health information from theft, loss, and unauthorized access, copying, modification, use, disclosure, and disposal. All documents containing personal health information are secured and access is limited. We conduct audits and complete investigations to monitor and manage our privacy compliance. We retain personal information for a minimum of five years as required by the Ambulance Act so that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided, and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. 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.

Personal access

You may access and correct your personal health records, or withdraw your consent for some of the above uses and disclosures by contacting us (subject to legal exceptions). 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. technical language).
We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you before providing you with this access. Your request will need to be put in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will notify you within 30 days and provide a reason why access cannot be granted. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests. 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 where you can substantiate that our files are wrong.

How to contact us

For more information about our privacy protection practices, or to raise a concern you have with our practices, contact us at:

DRRSB Privacy Officer

Heather Latter, Communications Officer, District of Rainy River Services Board
450 Scott Street
Fort Frances, ON
P9A 1H2
Ph: (807) 274-5349 Fax: (807) 274-5729

You have the right to complain to the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario if you think we have violated your rights. The Commissioner may be reached at:

Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario

2 Bloor Street East
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON
M4W 1A8
Ph: (800) 387-0073 Fax: (416) 325-9195