Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH) operates accounts on the following social media networks:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hpepublichealth/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HPEPublicHealth
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/HPEPublicHealth
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HPEPublicHealth
What you can expect from HPEPH social media accounts
We use social media to communicate information with people, organizations, and communities in Hastings and Prince Edward counties.
HPEPH social media accounts provide an opportunity for anyone interested in public health to engage with us and with one another, and for HPEPH to communicate with the communities we serve in a quick and efficient manner. Our mission is, together with our communities, we help people become as healthy as they can be, and our social media accounts are valuable tools to help us achieve this mission.
We aim to provide timely evidence-informed public health content.
Our accounts vary in terms of frequency of posts and content, but we post and monitor social media on all weekdays (excluding weekends and holidays observed in Ontario). We strive to publish recent and relevant evidence-informed health content that supports our mission. We make an effort to engage the community in a fun and interactive way.
Although comments and replies are welcome on our pages at any time, HPEPH monitors and updates 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 exceptional circumstance. If you post a comment or send us a question that requires a response we will strive to answer you within two business days.
We do not provide personal medical advice.
Using our accounts does not imply or create a therapeutic-client relationship with any of our staff, external content providers, or service providers who contribute to our content. We can not and do not provide personal medical or psychological services through any of our pages. While reliable public health information is provided on this platform, our pages must not be relied upon to replace or overrule a licensed health care professional’s individualized consultation, judgment or clinical diagnosis.
Expectations for people that use HPEPH social media accounts
When you use any of HPEPH’s social media accounts, you agree to the following.
You must take responsibility for your actions and comments.
Any action you take or information you provide in response to the content on our social media accounts is at your discretion, and is subject to our content guidelines. HPEPH reserves the right to delete comments that do not comply with our content guidelines.
You allow us to use the content that you provide.
By providing information on our social media accounts, you grant to HPEPH irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, non-exclusive, royalty-free worldwide licence (with the right to sublicence) and right to
- reproduce, publish, distribute and display content;
- create derivative works from the content;
- edit, modify or delete content; and
- use content for any other HPEPH purpose.
You will not change or modify any of the content on our social media accounts without written permission from HPEPH.
By using our social media accounts you agree not to alter, edit, delete, remove or otherwise modify the meaning, appearance or purpose of any content, code, data or materials on or available through our social media accounts, including, but not limited to, altering, obscuring or removing any trademarks, trade names, logos or other proprietary rights notices.
You will not hold us responsible for erroneous information and transmission of malicious software.
While we strive to provide accurate information and links to high-quality and reputable resources, we cannot guarantee the quality and consistency of information provided by other people and organizations through our page. Consequently, neither HPEPH nor its content or service providers guarantee or warrant the content against errors, defects, delays, omissions, interruptions or losses, including losses of data, nor are any files downloaded from our accounts warranted or guaranteed to be free of viruses, bugs, worms or other such destructive properties.
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold HPEPH, and its content providers and service providers harmless from any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, settlements, judgments, costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising in any way from your use of or access to our social media pages. You agree to waive any actions, causes of actions, or any other remedies in law that you may have against HPEPH, including any costs, losses or damages of any kind whether direct or indirect, special, incidental or consequential, and whether foreseeable or not.
You agree to follow the laws of the Province of Ontario and Canada, and understand that we may disclose your activities on our social media pages upon lawful requests.
HPEPH may disclose your communications and activities with our social media accounts in response to lawful requests by governmental authorities, judicial orders, warrants or subpoenas, or for the protection of HPEPH’s rights, and in doing so shall not incur any liability to you.
You agree and accept that your activities may be monitored by law enforcement agencies in the U.S.A. which are beyond the control of HPEPH.
The companies that own our social media accounts are American multinational conglomerates, and therefore are subject to oversight by law enforcement agencies in the U.S.A.
Social Media Content Guidelines
The following guidelines apply to all social media users that engage with us on our accounts.
What you are encouraged to do on HPEPH social media accounts.
- Ask us questions about our initiatives, programs and services.
- Provide your respectful opinion on the content that is shared.
- React to our content and show us how you feel about our initiatives, programs and services.
- Share our content on your personal social media accounts, Facebook groups or other forums where followers my find our content useful.
- Respectfully let us know if you think something we’ve posted is inaccurate or misleading.
- Provide us with constructive feedback on how our initiatives, programs and services have helped you, or on how they can be improved.
What will not be tolerated on HPEPH social media accounts.
- 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 remove original posts and comments that are not appropriate. This includes, but is not limited to content that:
- includes unproven, unsupported, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations
- suggests or spreads inaccurate or misleading information. Misinformation 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
- attempts to defame or defraud any financial, commercial, or non-governmental agency
- includes announcements from or endorsements of labour or political organizations.
- are not sent by the author, or which are posted by anonymous or robot accounts
- are repetitive posts that are copied and pasted by multiple users
- are spam or include links to other such sites
- include comments that are clearly off-topic, disruptive or unintelligible
- promote illegal activity
- contain personal information, including personal health information
- contain case-specific and other confidential information
- are racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, slanderous, insulting, intolerant, or life-threatening messages
- are offensive comments to an individual or an organization, including individuals and organizations outside of HPEPH, rude or derogatory in tone, or otherwise abusive
- promote commercial for-profit services or products
- may infringe on copyrights or trademarks
- violate any HPEPH policies
