Secure Messaging

We are working with the Ocean platform to deliver secure messages between our clients and providers.

Client Resources

Here are some links to other organizations that include a variety of different health-related topics or information you might find useful.

Please read through the following questions and answers if you are new to using the Ocean platform and secure messaging with Four Villages

We may send you an email for a variety of reasons, including to:

Provide appointment reminders or inform you of cancelled or postponed programs
Provide requisition forms for tests (labs, x-ray, ultrasound etc.)
Share the results of your last exams or other information related to your health
To ask you to complete questionnaires before or after your visit
Provide links to attend a virtual appointment or program
Inform you of an appointment you may have at a specialist or diagnostic centre
Verify client contact information, including updated health card information
Provide educational and health promotion resources
Request clients to contact the office to schedule appointments
Advise you of upcoming programs and services we will offer
Send you centre notices, policies, program materials and program evaluation forms
Send you invitations to participate in surveys
Send you general information about medication recalls

If you choose to communicate with Four Villages using email, you should be aware that email messages you send to or receive from the centre:

May not be secure. Four Villages cannot guarantee the security of any email message transmitted outside of our email system may become a permanent part of your electronic health record indefinitely.
Emails can introduce viruses into a computer system and potentially damage or disrupt the computer
Email senders can easily make an error in the address, resulting in the email being sent to an unintended and unknown recipient
Email is permanent. Even after the sender and recipient have deleted their copies of an email, back-up copies may exist on a computer or in cyberspace
Email can be used as evidence in court

For these reasons, if you choose to use email to communicate any information, including personal health information, to the centre, or to receive any information, you are hereby accepting the inherent risk of this information being compromised.

I understand that:

it is my responsibility to monitor email received at the indicated email address and to advise Four Villages in writing if my email address changes or should no longer be used by the centre for email communications with myself. I understand that only this email address will be used by Four Villages for communication to me.
If I am using email to communicate with Four Villages on behalf of a minor child, I understand that when he/she/they turn 14 this consent will be void and the individual will have the option of signing his/her/their own consent for ongoing email communication with the centre.
I understand that Four Villages cannot guarantee the security of email messages that I send to or receive from the centre.
I agree not to use email to communicate emergency or urgent information about myself or a minor child and understand that the centre does not guarantee the receipt or review of any email messages that I may send to the centre.
I understand that if I choose to use an email address of a family member, I understand and agree that others with access to that email account will be able to read messages sent to me from Four Villages, which may include my Personal Health Information. I also understand that they will be able to respond to Four Villages on my behalf.
I understand and agree that individual care providers may make decisions about my treatment, or that of a minor child, based on information I provide through email and that this information may form part of my/their health record.
I understand that I may stop using email for communication purposes at any time, at which point I will notify the centre in writing of my decision to stop using email for these purposes. I understand that this consent remains effective unless, and until, it is withdrawn.
I understand that individual care providers may stop using email for communication purposes at any time, at which point I will be informed in writing, or notified about this decision at the time of my next appointment.

Imagine that your friend sends you a letter through the post office. Inside the letter is information that they ONLY want to share with you. It’s possible that anyone could stop the post carrier and read your letter – this is similar to sending an e-mail over the internet. Now imagine instead of an envelope, your friend puts the letter in a locked box and only you have the key. They send the box in the mail, the same as before. However, this time if someone stopped the post carrier they would not be able to read the letter. When your box finally arrived, only you could open it with your key to read it, regardless of whether someone had looked at the box or known that it was being sent. This is similar to using Ocean. Ocean is the locked box that ensures only YOU can access the information in the email via a secure message. As communication with your health care provider may contain sensitive personal health information, using Ocean is important to uphold your privacy.

Inbox – this is where all of your messages appear when you sign into your e-mail account.

E-mail – this is the electronic message that appears when you open your e-mail browser and look in your inbox. You receive ‘e-mails’ from Health for All as a notification when your provider wants to communicate with you through Ocean. E-mail is not secure, it is simply a way that we notify that you have a message. DO NOT respond to e-mails from Health for All, please respond to the secure message.

Secure Message – This is the message that the provider is wanting you to access when you sign into Ocean. When you receive a secure message and need to reply to it, please do so in Ocean, not via e-mail. The instructions on how to do this are available in the “How-To” section.

E-form – An e-form is a type of survey that automatically and securely inputs your responses into your patient chart so that your provider can access the information when meeting with you. When your provider asks you to complete an e-form, it is so that they may review your chart prior to your appointment to ensure that more time is dedicated to your needs, rather than collecting information.

Secure Messaging

Client Resources

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