Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 29, 2025

This Privacy Policy describes how Running Wild Chiropractic ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects your personal information when you visit our website and use our services. We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with applicable privacy laws, including HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), and other Canadian privacy legislation.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Personal Information

We may collect the following types of personal information:

  • Contact Information: Name, email address, phone number, mailing address

  • Demographic Information: Date of birth, gender, emergency contact information

  • Health Information: Medical history, current symptoms, treatment records, x-rays, examination results, and other protected health information (PHI)

  • Insurance Information: Insurance provider details, policy numbers, billing information

  • Payment Information: Credit card details, billing address

  • Appointment Information: Scheduling details, visit history, cancellation records

1.2 Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our website, we automatically collect:

  • Device Information: IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers

  • Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, referring website

  • Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • Treatment: To provide chiropractic care, maintain medical records, and coordinate your treatment

  • Payment: To process payments, bill insurance companies, and manage financial transactions

  • Healthcare Operations: To improve our services, train staff, conduct quality assessments, and manage our practice

  • Communication: To send appointment reminders, follow-up instructions, and practice updates

  • Legal Compliance: To comply with legal obligations, respond to legal requests, and protect our rights

  • Marketing: With your consent, to send newsletters, promotions, and health tips (you may opt-out at any time)

  • Website Improvement: To analyze website usage and improve our online services

3. How We Share Your Information

We may share your information with:

  • Healthcare Providers: Other healthcare professionals involved in your care, with your consent

  • Insurance Companies: To process claims and verify coverage

  • Service Providers: Third-party vendors who assist with billing, appointment scheduling, IT services, and other business operations (under strict confidentiality agreements)

  • Legal Authorities: When required by law, court order, or to protect health and safety

  • Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, sale, or transfer of our practice assets

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

4. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include encryption, secure servers, access controls, staff training, and regular security audits. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

5. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

  • Access: Request a copy of your personal information and medical records

  • Correction: Request corrections to inaccurate or incomplete information

  • Deletion: Request deletion of your information, subject to legal and medical record retention requirements

  • Restriction: Request restrictions on how we use or disclose your information

  • Objection: Object to certain uses of your information

  • Portability: Request a copy of your information in a portable format

  • Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided below. We will respond to your request within 30 days, as required by law.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your website experience, analyze usage patterns, and deliver personalized content. You can control cookies through your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may limit your ability to use certain features of our website.

Types of cookies we use:

  • Essential Cookies: Required for website functionality and login sessions

  • Performance Cookies: Help us understand how visitors use our website

  • Functional Cookies: Remember your preferences and settings (such as saving your name and email when leaving comments)

  • Comment Cookies: If you leave a comment on our blog, these cookies save your name, email, and website for your convenience on future comments (lasting one year)

7. Website Features and Blog Comments

7.1 Comments

When you leave comments on our blog, we collect the data shown in the comments form, your IP address, and browser user agent string to help with spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to display your profile picture. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture and comment are visible to the public.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely so we can recognize and approve follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

7.2 Media and Images

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

7.3 Login and User Accounts

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will set up several cookies to save your login information and screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me," your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out, the login cookies will be removed.

For users that register on our website, we store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

7.4 Embedded Content

Articles on our blog may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles from other websites). Embedded content behaves as if you have visited the other website directly. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content, including tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

7.5 Spam Detection

Visitor comments and contact form submissions may be checked through an automated spam detection service. If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email for security purposes.

8. Third-Party Review Platforms

8.1 Google Reviews and Other Platforms

We encourage patients to leave reviews on third-party platforms such as Google Reviews, Facebook, Yelp, and other review sites. Please be aware that:

  • Reviews posted on third-party platforms are governed by those platforms' privacy policies and terms of service, not ours

  • Reviews on Google and similar platforms are typically public and permanent - they remain visible indefinitely unless you delete them or request removal through the platform

  • We have no control over third-party review platforms and cannot delete or modify reviews posted there

  • You should avoid including sensitive personal health information in public reviews to protect your privacy

  • Information you share in reviews may be indexed by search engines and appear in search results

8.2 Managing Your Reviews

If you wish to edit or delete a review you have posted on a third-party platform, you must do so directly through that platform. Each platform has its own process for managing reviews. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of any platform before posting a review. If you have concerns about a review you posted, please contact the platform's support team directly.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to children under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without parental consent. If we learn that we have collected information from a child without proper consent, we will delete it promptly. Parents or guardians may contact us to review or delete their child's information.

10. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Medical records are retained in accordance with applicable laws and professional standards in British Columbia, typically for a minimum of 7-10 years after your last visit. Website comments and user data may be retained indefinitely as described in the Website Features section above.

11. International Data Transfers

Your information is primarily stored and processed in Canada. Some of our service providers may be located outside of Canada. When we transfer data internationally, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information in accordance with Canadian privacy laws.

12. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will post the updated policy on our website with a new "Last Updated" date. Your continued use of our services after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy. For material changes, we will provide additional notice through email or prominent website notification.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:

Running Wild Chiropractic

40721 Perth Drive

Garibaldi Highlands, BC V0N 1T0

Phone: 604-337-7434

Email: runningwildchiro@gmail.com

Privacy Officer: Dr. Alyssa Stridsland, DC (runningwildchiro@gmail.com)

15. PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Laws

This Privacy Policy complies with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other applicable Canadian privacy legislation. We are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with Canadian privacy standards and healthcare regulations.

By using our website and services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.