Social Media Terms of Use

Social Media Terms of Use

Rideau Community Health Services (RCHS) is currently actively engaged on the following social media platforms:

• Instagram: @rideauchs
• Facebook: @rideaucommunityhealth

These Social Media Terms of Use apply to you when you communicate with RCHS through our social media accounts – please read them carefully.

What to Expect from our Social Media Posts

RCHS’s social media accounts are a place for the community and anyone interested to learn more about our programs and services. We use social media to engage and communicate with the communities we serve in a quick and efficient manner. Our mission is to engage individuals, agencies, and partners to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. Social media is a valuable tool to help us achieve our mission.

Our accounts vary in terms of frequency of posts and content, but we typically aim to post several times per week (excluding weekends and holidays observed in Ontario). We strive to publish recent and relevant evidence-based health content and up to date information about RCHS and our partners.

Posting Guidelines

The following posting guidelines apply to any social media where users can directly post onto a RCHS’s account (either by commenting or adding an original post).

1. We do not allow comments that are disrespectful, abusive, hateful or intended to defame anyone or any organization, nor do we allow obscene, explicit content.
   • We reserve the right to edit or remove comments that are not appropriate, including:
     • Unproven, unsupported, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations
     • Misinformation – Inaccurate information spreads widely and at high speed, making it more difficult for the public to identify verified facts and advice from trusted and credible sources, we reserve the right to remove such information from our social media feeds.
       • You can report misinformation on social media – here is how
     • Messages that attempt to defame or defraud any financial, commercial, or non-governmental agency
     • Announcements from or endorsements of labour or political organizations or non-governmental associations
     • Comments written in a language other than English or French (For comments in other languages, please private message us)
     • Comments not sent by the author, or which are posted by anonymous or robot accounts
     • Repetitive posts copied and pasted by multiple users
     • Spam
     • Comments that are clearly off-topic, disruptive or unintelligible
     • Advocacy of illegal activity
     • Personal information, including personal health information
     • Racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, slanderous, insulting, intolerant, or life-threatening messages
     • Offensive comments to an individual or an organization, rude in tone, or otherwise abusive
     • Promotion of commercial services or products.
     • Anything that may infringe on copyrights or trademarks
     • Comments that violate any RCHS policies
2. You participate at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username, and any information you share.
3. Comments and posts expressed by fans or followers of our social media accounts do not reflect the opinions and position of RCHS or its employees.

Availability

Although comments and replies are welcome on our social media accounts at any time, the RCHS will monitor and update its social media accounts during regular business hours between 8:30am and 4:30pm Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. Any monitoring or updating outside of these hours is likely due to an emergency or special circumstance.

Response Time

RCHS will do its best to respond to any questions (that don’t violate these Terms of Use) within two business days. We make an effort to review posted comments and messages, but cannot guarantee a response to all comments or moderating all discussions. However, while we may not respond to all questions or comments, we will attempt to participate or intervene as appropriate, or provide a response when possible. All comments and messages received will be responded to on a case-by-case basis, when deemed appropriate.

Things to Consider

• Comments that do not follow our Posting Guidelines may be removed, and users that ignore these guidelines may be sanctioned further (for example, being banned or blocked from posting content).
• For any matter that is confidential or too complicated for posting on social media, please email us at communications@rideauchs.ca.
• The servers of social media network providers are managed by third parties. Our social media accounts may be subject to downtime that is out of our control. RCHS accepts no responsibility for platforms becoming unresponsive or unavailable.
• Each social media platform has Terms of Use. You can read them here: Instagram, Facebook.
• We will try our best to help you, but we cannot guarantee that we will fully understand your question or that we will be able to answer it. By contacting us through a social media site, you acknowledge that any response we provide to you through the same site:
  • is intended to provide helpful information or resources
  • is not considered to be definitive advice or guaranteed to solve your issue

Health Advice and Emergencies

RCHS will not offer medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment via social media. If you need emergency medical care or are in crisis, call 9-1-1 immediately. If you need health care on a non-urgent basis, please consult with your health care provider or if you live in Ontario, call Telehealth at 1-866-797-0000. For non-urgent appointment requests, please phone us at 613-269-3400.

Privacy

To protect the privacy of all individuals, please DO NOT include personal names, photographs, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment or post, or identifiable information about your own or someone else’s health care or health status. RCHS’s social media accounts are public spaces, and comments and photographs on this page are available for all to see. Posts that include personal information may be deleted at our sole discretion.

If you do post personal information, including personal health information, on any of RCHS’s social media accounts, you are consenting to the collection and use of that information by us. Such information will be collected for the purpose of obtaining feedback on our programs and policies and will be used to assess public views on those programs and services and other issues. We may also use information that you post to reply to questions you pose, to direct you to other informational resources, or to respond to your comments. In most cases, responses by RCHS will be available for all to see.

Comments may also be used and disclosed by RCHS as required or permitted by applicable law, including the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004.