PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE.

Hospital for Special Care (“HFSC”) is recognized for advanced care and rehabilitation in pulmonary care, acquired brain injury, medically-complex pediatrics, neuromuscular disorders including ALS research, spinal cord injury, comprehensive heart failure and comprehensive inpatient and outpatient treatment for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Privacy is an important part of our relationship with our patients, program participants, donors and other stakeholders. We are committed to advancing a safe and respectful environment for the users of our services both in person and online. We collect only that information about our website users and their activities on our website as is necessary to help us provide the best possible experience in furtherance of our mission.

This Privacy Policy describes how we use, share, and protect information that we collect from you online through hfsc.org and linked websites (collectively, the “Website”).

By using the Website, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use.

1. Privacy Policy Updates

Due to the rapidly evolving nature of Web-based technology, we may need to update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If so, we will post our updated Privacy Policy on this page. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy that affect our collection, use, or sharing of your Personal Information (defined below), we will notify you of such changes by posting a notice on our website. Small changes or changes that do not materially affect individual privacy interests may be made at any time and without prior notice.

We encourage you to check this page frequently for any changes to our Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Website and/or continued provision of Personal Information to us will constitute your acceptance of such change and will be subject to the terms of the then-current Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the changes, then you should stop using the Website, and you should notify us that you do not want your information used in accordance with the changes.

2. Information Collection and Use

a. Information You Provide Us

While using our Website, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to, your name, address, e-mail, or other contact or account information (“Personal Information”). We may use this information to respond to your requests or provide information or services you requested. Submitting Personal Information is voluntary.

By submitting a telephone number to us you agree that a representative of HFSC can contact you at the number you provide, potentially using automated technology (including text/SMS messaging) or a pre-recorded message. Your consent is not an obligation to receive any of our products and/or services.

b. Cookies

We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use “cookies” including flash cookies, which are small electronic data files stored on a visitor’s computer containing information about the visitor. Unless a cookie expires or is deleted, a cookie will identify a visitor’s unique browser. On each subsequent visit to the Website, the visitor’s browser will retrieve the cookie, allowing us to aggregate the number of return visitors. HFSC uses cookies to test and optimize our Website design and content. HFSC is unable to identify an individual by using such technologies.

You can take actions to block cookies by opting out. Blocking session cookies from your computer will not affect your access to the content and tools on our Website. Blocking multi-session or persistent cookies may affect the personalization of the information on some sites.

c. Web Analytics

We use Google’s Universal Analytics (“UA”) and Mouseflow to monitor Website usage and analyze aggregate demographic and interest data of our visitors. This information cannot be used to identify you as an individual. While some websites use these tools to serve advertisements on their websites, HFSC only uses them to analyze demographic data.

The information we collect during your visit includes but is not limited to:

  • The name of the domain you use to access the Internet;
  • The date and time of your visit to our Website;
  • The pages and documents you viewed or interacted with on our Website;
  • Form clicks and interactions on our Website;
  • The URL of the website you visited prior to ours;
  • The type and version of your Web browser, device and operating system; and
  • Your location at the time of your visit, down to the city level.

We do not associate any of the data we collect with you as an identifiable individual. Instead, we aggregate this data from all visits in order to improve our Website and provide you with a better user experience. The aggregate data is available only to our Website administrators. For more information, please read the Google Analytics Privacy Policy or click here to opt out of Google Analytics tracking.  Please read the Mouseflow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy or click here to opt out of Mouseflow tracking or access Mouseflow privacy shield personal data protection.

d. Online Advertising and Tracking

HFSC occasionally uses tools such as, but not limited to, Google AdWords and Facebook Tools to provide online advertisement delivery and tracking.

HFSC may employ tools provided by Google AdWords to support Display Advertising, such as Re-marketing (including cross-device re-marketing functionality), Google Display Network Impression Reporting, data collection via advertising cookies and anonymous identifiers, the DoubleClick Campaign Manager integration, and/or Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. In general, this means that third-party vendors, including Google, may show HFSC ads on websites across the Internet based upon visits to HFSC websites.

To implement these tools, HFSC and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies and third-party cookies together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on past visits to HFSC websites. You can find more information about how Google uses AdWords information by reading the Google AdWords Privacy Policy. Google users can control their ads experience (or opt out of personalized ads altogether) at My Account.

HFSC may employ Facebook Tools and other services from Facebook, which may use cookies, web beacons, and other storage technologies to collect or receive information from our websites and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads, a user may exercise the decision to opt-out of the collection and learn more about the use of information for ad targeting at http://www.aboutads.info/choices or http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/. More information is available by reading the Facebook Tools Terms of Service.

e. Payment Data

HFSC relies in part on donations to allow us to perform our mission. For this reason, we provide our visitors the opportunity to make donations online. We have partnered with Blackbaud to permit you to make your donation using a credit card. When you make your donation, you provide Blackbaud your credit card and billing contact information. This information is collected and stored by Blackbaud and/or its third-party payment processors, and we may collect some limited information, such as your postal code and details of your transaction history. These third parties generally provide us with some limited information related to you, such as a unique token that enables you to make additional purchases using the information they have stored, and your card’s type, expiration date, and last four digits. The use of your data by Blackbaud and/or its third-party partners is subject to Blackbaud’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

f. We Do Not Knowingly Collect Information from Children under the Age of 13

Our Website is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. Therefore, you must be at least 13 years of age to use the Website. If you are under the age of 13, please do not send us any information about yourself (including, without limitation, your name, address, telephone number, credit card information, or e-mail address). In the event we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a person under the age of 13, we will delete that information as soon as reasonably practicable. By using our Website, you affirm that you are at least 13 years of age or older. We are not liable for any damages that may result from a user’s misrepresentation of age. Parents or legal guardians of children under 13 cannot agree to these terms on their behalf.

If you believe we might have information from or about a person under the age of 13, please contact us at [email protected].

3. Disclosure of Personal Information

We may disclose your Personal Information (as well as data generated by cookies and non-personally identifying information we aggregate) to those employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf or to provide services available on the Website, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. By using the Website, you consent to the transfer of such information to such employees.

We may also disclose your Personal Information and/or payment information to the vendors and service agencies that we may engage to assist us in providing our services to you, as well as for data analytics purposes and targeted advertising as set forth above. We may sell and/or disclose your non-personal information that we collect (“Aggregate Information”) as described below.

Finally, we will disclose your Personal Information (i) when we reasonably believe we are required to do so by law, regulation, or other government authority or when we deem it appropriate or necessary to provide such information to law enforcement authorities; (ii) to enforce our Terms of Use; (iii) to protect and defend the rights or property of HFSC;  (iv) to protect the safety of our employees, agents, or users of the Website; or (v) where we sell or transfer our business and/or assets to a successor entity upon a merger, sale, consolidation or other corporate reorganization to which HFSC is a party.

We use Aggregate Information to analyze trends, administer the Website, track users’ movement on the Website, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Our purpose in collecting such information is to better understand how our visitors use the Website. From time to time, we may also release (e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of the Website) or sell such aggregated information to outside companies or organizations.

4. Third-Party Websites

HFSC maintains accounts on third-party websites, including social media websites like Facebook and LinkedIn. The security and privacy of third-party websites is not under our control and may vary; please exercise caution when accessing these websites.

Users of third-party websites often share information with the public, user community, and/or the third party operating the website. This Privacy Policy governs only information we collect. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of all websites to ensure that you understand how your information may be used. You should also adjust your privacy settings on your account on any third-party website to match your preferences.

If you have an account or profile with a third-party website, and choose to use, follow, like, friend, or comment on a third-party website, certain personal information associated with your account may be made available to us based on the privacy policies of the third-party website and your privacy settings within that website. We do not share Personal Information made available through these websites, other than as required with our employees, subcontractors or service providers to enable us to respond to inquiries or complaints.

5. Do Not Track Signals and Similar Mechanisms

HFSC may track visitors to our Website across third-party websites for the purpose of providing targeted advertising. Some web browsers may transmit “do-not-track” signals to websites with which the browser communicates. Our Website does not currently respond to these “do-not-track” signals.

Third parties that have content embedded on the HFSC Website may set cookies on a user’s browser and obtain information about the fact that a web browser visited a specific HFSC webpage from a given IP address. Third parties cannot collect any personally identifiable information from the HFSC Website unless you provide it to them directly.

6. Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you may ask us for a notice identifying the categories of personal customer information that we share with our affiliates and/or third parties for marketing purposes and to refrain from sharing your personal information with certain of these entities for their marketing purposes. Please tell us your preference by contacting us at the following address: Hospital for Special Care 2150 Corbin Avenue, New Britain, CT 06053. In your request, please specify that you want a “Hospital for Special Care California Privacy Rights Notice.” Please allow 30 days for a response.

7. Security

We are committed to protecting our users’ information. While we use commercially suitable physical, technical and administrative safeguards, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and we do not guarantee the security of user information at any time. We will not be liable for any breach of the security measures on the Website or any loss, misuse, or alteration of Personal Information resulting therefrom or from communications through the Internet.

8. Contacting Hospital for Special Care

Thank you for visiting our Website. If you have any questions, comments or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy please contact us via e-mail at [email protected], 860-832-6215 or regular mail at:

Hospital for Special Care
2150 Corbin Avenue
New Britain, CT 06053

Attention:  Marketing