Privacy Policy

Effective August 26, 2026 · Updated October 6, 2026

Wheels for Wellness Indian Head Inc. is a volunteer, non-profit organization that provides transportation to medical appointments for residents of Indian Head and the surrounding area. To arrange safe rides we need to collect some personal information, and we take the responsibility that comes with it seriously. This page explains, in plain language, what we collect, why, how it is protected, and how long we keep it.

What we collect

• Passengers: your name and contact details, pick-up address, the date, time, and destination of your appointment, mobility needs (for example a walker or wheelchair), any medical considerations we need to know about to give you a safe ride, an emergency contact (name, phone and email), and the name of anyone who regularly travels with you.
• Volunteer drivers: contact details, date of birth, driver's licence information, an emergency contact, two references, your vehicle and plate details, insurance policy details, and the screening records our insurer and policies require (criminal record check, driving abstract, insurance approval), including copies of documents you upload.
• Donations and rides: a record of each trip and any donation received, which we need for receipts, accounting, and reporting to our board.
• This website: our home page and this page collect nothing, have no user accounts and use no advertising or tracking cookies. They load their fonts from Google Fonts. The privacy training page for volunteer drivers records a driver's name and the date they finish, and uses a session cookie to remember their place.

Why we collect it

Only to run the ride service: booking and coordinating trips, matching volunteer drivers, keeping passengers safe, issuing receipts, and reporting totals (never names) to our board. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for marketing.

How it is protected

• Our dispatch records are stored on servers located in Canada (Toronto), encrypted both in transit and at rest.
• Only authorized dispatchers can sign in, each with their own account protected by two-factor authentication, and the system keeps a record of access.
• Text messages to volunteer drivers follow a minimum-necessary rule. When a ride needs a driver, the call-out text goes to all available drivers and gives only first names (yours, and those of any other passengers sharing the ride, up to three in all), the destination city, the date and appointment time, a trip number, and roughly how long the appointment and the trip will take (an urgent call-out for a replacement driver also gives the pick-up time). Your surname, your address, your phone number, the name of the clinic and any medical details are never part of our standard text wording.
• Text messages to passengers are sent only when a dispatcher has recorded on your file that you agreed to receive them. The standard wording carries only this about you: your first name, the destination city, the date, the pick-up time, your driver's first name and our Dispatch phone number (a cancellation text carries your first name, the trip number, the destination city, the date and the Dispatch phone number). Your surname, your address, any person's phone number, the name of the clinic and any medical details are never part of that wording either.
• Once one driver accepts the ride, that driver alone receives a confirmation email with what they need to drive you safely: your name, your pick-up address, the appointment location and time, and any mobility aids or medical considerations you have told us about. No other driver receives it.
• Volunteers sign confidentiality commitments, and what they learn while driving stays confidential.

When we share it

Volunteer drivers receive only the information needed to provide your ride. Beyond that, we do not share personal information with anyone unless you ask us to or the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Ride and donation records are kept for seven years, a retention period set by our board to meet accounting and legal obligations. After that, records are de-identified when our retention clean-up is run, so they no longer name anyone.

Text messages

A passenger can stop our texts at any time by replying STOP. A volunteer driver who no longer wants call-out texts should tell Dispatch.

Passengers whose agreement is recorded may receive short text messages about their ride: a booking confirmation, a reminder two days before the ride, a notice if the ride is cancelled, and a notice if a cancelled ride is back on. A dispatcher may also send a text by hand. If you reply STOP, the passenger texts to your number stop.

Your choices and questions

You may ask us what information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or raise any concern about how it is handled. We will respond promptly.