Naturopathic Privacy Policy Summary:

Privacy of personal information is an important principle for Dr. Katie Weststrate, Naturopathic Doctor at Ahimsa Naturopathic. At Ahimsa, we are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document is an outline of our privacy policies.

As your Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Katie collects personal information pertaining to your home address, phone numbers, emergency contact information, health history, results of medical tests, and present health complaints. We collect this information primarily for your healthcare practitioner to assess your health needs and to facilitate your treatment. Like all organizations, our secondary purpose for collecting information includes invoicing for goods and services, processing credit card payments, and to collect unpaid accounts.

Katie Weststrate, ND is regulated by the College of Naturopaths of Ontario (CONO). This regulatory body has the right to review our records and interview our staff as part of their regulatory duties to protect the public. Should they do an audit of the clinic, they would have legal access to your personal information.

We understand the importance of protecting your personal information. Paper information is stored behind two locked barriers. Electronic information is password protected, files are encrypted and information is stored on secure servers on proper data centres. All servers are SOC2 certified at a minimum, which means that only authorized individuals have access to the facilities. Electronic information is encrypted using 256 bit encryption when being transferred between the staff member’s device and the server (in the same way as your banking information would be). Our support staff is trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our clinic privacy policy. 

We are required by our regulatory body to keep client files for a minimum of ten years. You have the right to access your personal information at any time. After ten years, we destroy paper information by shredding and permanently delete electronic information.