The Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Society Privacy Policy

The Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Society (“VECCS”) has adopted this Privacy Policy (“Policy”) to govern the collection, use, and storage of data. VECCS places a high priority on protecting your privacy. This Policy was created in order to demonstrate VECCS’s commitment to the privacy of our members and websites users and governs www.veccs.org and www.iveccs.org. By accessing our website(s) or providing your information to us, you accept and agree to the practices described in this Policy.

What Types of Data We Collect and How We Use It

We collect a variety of information when you visit our website and engage with our products and services.  

Personal Data may include name, employer, title, email, employer phone, mobile phone, address, job title, years in practice, practice discipline, credentials/certifications, membership organizations, birthdate, credit card information, IP addresses, communication preferences, membership history, and details of products and/or services purchased which identify you as an individual or is information that can be linked to you as an individual (“Personal Data”). Here is the personal data we may collect, depending on the product and/or service.

·       Name: We may use your name to personalize digital and print communications sent to you by VECCS, on name badges at VECCS programs and events that you attend, to list on the VECCS website, Journal, and/or newsletter when you participate on VECCS committees, task forces, or other work groups, and to appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Employer Name: We may use your employer name on digital and print communications sent to you by VECCS, name badges at VECCS programs and events that you attend, to list on the VECCS website, Journal, and/or newsletter when you participate on VECCS committees, task forces, or other work groups, in promotional materials for VECCS Certified Facilities if your organization is certified by VECCS, and to appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Title: We may use your title on digital and print communications sent to you by VECCS, name badges at VECCS programs and events that you attend, to list on the VECCS website, Journal, and/or newsletter when you participate on VECCS committees, task forces, or other work groups, and to appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Email: We may use your email to send you communications regarding VECCS news, membership updates, information on programs, events, products, services, and dues renewal notices. Your email may appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Employer Phone: Your employer phone may appear in the VECCS membership directory. Depending on your communication preferences, VECCS may contact you on your employer phone regarding membership dues or other VECCS member information.

·       Mobile Phone: VECCS may contact you on your mobile phone regarding VECCS membership and/or programs and events information and it may appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Address: We may use your address to deliver communications to you. Your address may appear in the VECCS membership directory. It may be reported in aggregate (e.g. the number of VECCS members in your state) when reporting on member demographics and analyzing member trends.

·       Job title: We may use your job title on digital and print communications sent to you by VECCS, name badges at VECCS programs and events that you attend, to be listed on the VECCS website, Journal, and/or newsletter when you participate on VECCS committees, task forces, or other work groups, and to appear in the VECCS membership directory. It may be reported in aggregate when reporting on member demographics and analyzing member trends.

·       Years in Practice: Your Years in Practice is not shared; it may be reported in aggregate when reporting on member demographics and analyzing member trends.

·       Practice Discipline: Your Practice Discipline is not shared; it may be reported in aggregate when reporting on member demographics and analyzing member trends.

·       Credentials/Certifications: We may use your credentials and/or certifications as part of your name on digital and print communications sent to you by VECCS, name badges at VECCS programs and events that you attend, it may be listed on the VECCS website, Journal, and/or newsletter when you participate on VECCS committees, task forces, or other work groups, and to appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Birthdate/Age: Your birthdate/age may be reported in aggregate when reporting on member demographics and analyzing member trends. Your birthdate/age may appear in the VECCS membership directory.

·       Credit Card information: Your credit card information is used when purchasing products or services from VECCS.

·       IP addresses: We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.

·       Membership history: We may report on your length of membership when recognizing legacy member in VECCS communications. It may be reported in aggregate when reporting on member demographics and analyzing member trends.

VECCS may collect photo, video or other media at programs and events. VECCS shall also have the right to use your image, biography, video, session recording, and other materials for the purpose of promotion.

How We Collect Personal Data

In general, a visitor will know when Personal Data is being collected because he or she will have been asked to fill out a form or will have emailed the organization. In addition, we may collect Personal Data through your use of the website(s) and Apps, or any discussion boards or chat rooms.

Visitors may generally browse public portions of the VECCS website anonymously without providing any detailed information. However, Personal Data is required in connection with registering with the sites. In addition, Personal Data will be requested in connection with membership registration, event activities and registration, purchasing products or services, requesting additional information, signing up for newsletters, registration for an education program or event, submitting a program application (e.g. award, certification, etc.), and/or completing the application to be a speaker at a VECCS event, or submitting questions through these sites.

VECCS does not knowingly collect or use any Personal Data from users under 13 years of age.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored for varying amounts of time on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user. VECCS may use cookies in order to collect certain information about you, such as IP addresses (the Internet address of a computer), domain names (e.g., whether you are logged on from a .com, .gov, or .edu domain) and the type of computer and operating system being used. We may also use cookies to identify your computer when you revisit our website or to recall your authentication information. We may collect such information in order to better operate the website so as to enhance your experience while using the website. You have the option of setting your computer to disable cookies or to alert you when cookies are being used. If you choose to disable cookies, please be aware that portions of the website may not function properly.

Examples of Cookies we use:

·       Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.

·       Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.

·       Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

·       Ad Targeting Cookies. This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests. It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers.

How We Share Information

VECCS may provide personal information to third party agents that have been hired to help provide a requested good or service or to facilitate us in providing our services to you. This may include payment processors, association membership system providers, VECCS Journal and newsletter publishers, website analytics, marketing programs, member analyses, membership renewal and/or updates on member programs and events, and products and services. We may also share data with exhibitors at IVECCS. Unless directed otherwise at the time of collection, we may also share collected personal information with third parties who may have information or services that we believe could be helpful to members or visitors. Visitors may opt-out from the sharing of collected information by contacting us.

VECCS reserves the right to disclose without notice any information in its possession if required to do so by law, to protect or defend VECCS’s rights or property, or to respond to an emergency.

External links

This Policy only addresses VECCS’s use and disclosure of your Personal Data. The website may contain links to other websites, so please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites, and we are not liable for their misuse of Personal Data. We encourage you to be aware that when you go to another website you should carefully read their privacy policy. Links to other sites do not imply VECCS’s endorsement of the products or services, or privacy or security practices of those websites.

Rights of European Residents

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your Personal Data. You have the right to:

Request access to your Personal Data. This enables you to receive a copy of your Personal Data and to verify that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of your Personal Data. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your Personal Data. You may have the right to request that Personal Data we hold about you is deleted.

Object to processing of your Personal Data. You may have the right to prevent or restrict processing of your Personal Data.

Request restriction of processing of your Personal Data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your Personal Data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your Personal Data. Where technically feasible, we will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

Withdraw your consent. However, if you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

How You Can Access and Change Information

VECCS acknowledges that you have the right to access your Personal Data.

You can log into your member profile at www.veccs.org to update your personal data at any time. Upon request, we will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your Personal Data. You can update or correct your Personal Data or remove it from our system by making a request to us at the contact information provided below. Requests typically receive a response within thirty (30) days. If access cannot be provided within that time frame, we will provide the requesting party with an estimated date by which the information will be provided. If for some reason access is denied, we will provide an explanation of why access has been denied.

Our Security Measures to Protect Your Personal Data

We are committed to taking reasonable efforts to secure the information that you choose to provide us, and we use a variety of security procedures to help protect against unauthorized access to or alteration, disclosure, or destruction of Personal Data. We restrict access to Personal Data to our employees, contractors and servicers who need to know the information to operate, develop, or improve our services.

Unfortunately, no transmission of Personal Data over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, and despite our efforts, VECCS cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to or from our online services. VECCS has no responsibility or liability for the security of information transmitted via the Internet. If you have questions about this Policy or the security of your Personal Data, please contact us as indicated under the “Contact Us” section below.

We retain your Personal Data for as long as needed to provide you services, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.

Modifications

We may amend this Policy from time to time without prior notice. If we decide to change this Policy, we will post those changes on our home page so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it, so please review it periodically.

Your continued use of our website will be deemed to be your agreement to the changed terms.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Policy or our treatment of the information you provide us, please contact as at:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 210-698-5575

Address: 23119 W I-10, Building13 San Antonio, TX 78257

Last updated February 20, 2024