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Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice

Last Updated/Effective Date: Feb. 28, 2022

American Association for Respiratory Care (“AARC” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This Privacy Notice describes how we process Personal Information (defined below) that we collect via the sites, applications, social media pages, or other platforms that link to it (collectively, the “Site”), or that is otherwise provided to, or collected by, us in connection with the services we offer (our “Services”).

We may modify this Privacy Notice at any time. All changes will be effective immediately upon posting to the Site. Material changes will be conspicuously posted on the Site or otherwise communicated to you.

    1. Personal Information We Collect

      We may collect a range of Personal Information. “Personal Information” means information that uniquely identifies, relates to, describes, or is reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to you.

      The types of Personal Information we collect may include:

      • Contact Information — If you submit an inquiry, create a member account, register for an event, or otherwise provide information on our Site, we may collect your contact information. This may include your name, email address, demographic information, educational records, user name and password, and phone number.
      • Financial Information — If you purchase a membership account or make a donation through our Site, we will collect your financial information, including your name and payment information.
      • Location Data — While navigating our Site, your mobile device or browser may share your location data, both through WiFi and GPS.
      • Usage Information — When you use our Site, our servers may automatically record information, including your IP Address, browser type, referring URLs (e.g., the site you visited before coming to our Site), domain names associated with your internet service provider, and information on your interaction with the Site.
      • Employment Information — If you apply for employment with us, we will collect your employment and work history, as well as other Personal Information related to your application. This may include your education and employment history, address and contact information, demographic information, and any other information included in your resume or application.
      • Communication Information — We may collect audio, electronic, or visual information, which includes screen sharing views; any data in any files uploaded, emailed or otherwise provided by customers; the contents of your communications with us, whether via e-mail, social media, telephone or otherwise, and inferences we may make from other Personal Information we collect.
      • Member and Candidate Information in Connection with Our Services — We may collect Personal Information about our current and perspective members, eligible scholarship candidates, and relief grant candidates which includes date of birth, age, social security number, graduating class, grade level, school and advisor information, GPA, test and assessment scores, financial aid and grant information, scholarship information, educational enrollment information, and career advancement information.

    1. How We Collect Your Personal Information
        • We May Collect Your Personal Information Directly From You — For example, if you create a member account on the Site, request information regarding our Services, or apply for an online course and programs.
        • We May Also Collect Personal Information From Third Parties — For example, we may work with business partners, subcontractors, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, and other third parties, who may provide us with Personal Information about you.
        • Through Online Tracking Technologies — We may use cookies, device identifiers, and similar technologies such as pixels, web beacons, and local storage to collect usage and browser information about how you use the Site. We process Personal Information collected through such technologies to help operate certain features of the Site, to enhance your experience through personalization, and to help us better understand the features of the Site that you and other users are most interested in.

        • We utilize the following types of cookies:

          Strictly Necessary Cookies
          These cookies are fundamental to the functionality of the Site. These cookies are essential.

          Performance Cookies
          This type of cookie collects information on how people use the Site, to enable us to improve how the site operates. For example, Google Analytics cookies help us understand how customers arrive at the Site, browse or use the Site and highlight areas where we can improve areas such as navigation, shopping experience and marketing campaigns.

          Functionality Cookies
          These cookies may remember the operations such as your preference so that we can provide you with better services and improve our operation models.

          Targeting Cookies or Advertising Cookies
          These cookies collect information about your browsing habits in order to make advertising more personalized to you. These cookies may remember the websites you have visited and share them with the third parties, such as advertisers.

          Social networking cookies
          These cookies are used to enable you to share pages and content on our websites and services through third-party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes.

          Most browsers provide you with the ability to block, delete, or disable cookies, and your mobile device may allow you to disable transmission of unique identifiers and location data. If you choose to reject cookies or block device identifiers, some features of the Site may not be available, or some functionality may be limited or unavailable. Please review the help pages of your browser or mobile device for assistance with changing your settings.

          We do not respond to Do Not Track (“DNT”) signals sent to us by your browser at this time. To learn more about how DNT works, please visit http://allaboutdnt.com/.

        • Through Analytics – We use analytics services, including Google Analytics, to assist us with analyzing our website traffic through cookies and similar technologies. For more information on Google Analytics’ processing of your Personal Information, please see https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites?hl=en-US. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

    1. How We Use Personal Information

      To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may use Personal Information to:

      • operate the Site and provide support to our business functions;
      • fulfill member requests, such as to create an account;
      • protect against criminal activity, claims and other liabilities;
      • send you information about our, and our affiliated organizations’, services, and promotions;
      • respond to reviews, comments, or other feedback provided to us;
      • support and personalize the Site and our advertising efforts;
      • protect the security and integrity of the Site;
      • provide customer support;
      • the extent required for benchmarking, data analysis, audits, developing new products, enhancing the Site, facilitating product, software and applications development, improving the Site or our services, conducting research, analysis, studies or surveys, identifying usage trends, as well as for other analytics purposes;
      • meet our contractual requirements;
      • comply with applicable legal or regulatory requirements and our policies;
      • respond to inquiries related to employment opportunities;
      • market, advertise, and provide the Site and our services;
      • undertaking research projects to evaluate effectiveness of our Services;
      • communicate with you via text message or other electronic communication; and
      • the extent necessary for any other lawful purpose for which the Personal Information is collected;

    1. Sharing of Personal Information

      We may share your Personal Information in the following circumstances:

      • To Third Parties for Marketing Purposes — We may share your Personal Information with third parties for their marketing purposes. This may include third parties whose services we believe you may be interested, or who are interested in providing you with services.
      • For Legal Obligation or Safety Reasons — When we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of Personal Information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy or comply with any requirement of law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce or investigate a potential violation of the Terms of Use, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise respond to fraud, security or technical concerns, (d) support auditing and compliance functions, or (e) protect the rights, property, or safety of AARC, its users, or the public against harm.
      • In the Case of a Merger or Sale — If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of transfer or sale of some or all of its business, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding. Personal Information may be transferred along with the business. Where legally required we will give you prior notice and if you have a legal right to do so, an opportunity to object to this transfer.
      • To Service Providers — When we hire a service provider to help operate the Site or our business, we may give access to Personal Information as necessary to perform services on our behalf. This may include service providers that operate our Site, send our communications, or run our promotions.
      • To Business Partners — We may share Personal Information with our trusted business partners. For example, we may share your Personal Information if we co-sponsor a promotion or service with another organization. These partners and affiliates may use your Personal Information to, among other things, send you information or contact you about their services.

    1. How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information

      We will retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it has been collected, as outlined in this Privacy Notice, or any longer retention period required by law.

    1. How We Protect Your Personal Information

      We use our commercially reasonable efforts to protect the confidentiality and security of Personal Information we process. However, despite these efforts to store Personal Information in a secure operating environment, we cannot guarantee the security of Personal Information during its transmission or its storage on our systems. Further, while we attempt to ensure the integrity and security of Personal Information, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third parties such as hackers from illegally obtaining access to Personal Information.

    1. Opting out of Marketing and Electronic Communications

      To opt-out of marketing or electronic communications, update your communication preferences in your profile at my.aarc.org. You can also email us at info@aarc.orgor follow the instructions included in the email or text correspondence.

      Please note that, even if you unsubscribe from certain correspondence, we may still need to contact you with important transactional or administrative information, as permitted by law.  Additionally, if you withdraw your consent or object to processing, or if you choose not to provide certain Personal Information, we may be unable to provide some or all of our Services to you.

      To exercise other rights with respect to your Personal Information, please see Section 13.

    1. International Use of the Site

      This Site is hosted in the United States. If you are visiting this Site from outside of the United States, please note that your Personal Information is being transferred to, stored, collected, or processed in the United States.

    1. Children’s Privacy

      We do not knowingly collect or solicit any Personal Information from children under the age of 13. In the event that we learn that we have collected Personal Information from a child, we will promptly take steps to delete that information. If you are a parent or legal guardian and think your child has given us their Personal Information, you can email us at info@aarc.org or contact us using the information listed in Section 13.

    1. Links to Third-Party Websites

      We are not responsible for the practices employed by any websites or services linked to or from the Site, including the information or content contained within them. We encourage you to investigate and ask questions before disclosing Personal Information to third parties, since any Personal Information disclosed will be subject to the applicable third party’s Privacy Notice.

    1. Your Privacy Rights

      Depending on where you live, and subject to certain exemptions, you may have certain privacy rights:

      • Notice — The right to be notified of what categories of Personal Information will be collected at or before the point of collection and the purposes for which they will be used and shared.
      • Access — The right to request the categories of Personal Information that we collected in the previous twelve (12) months, the categories of sources from which the Personal Information was collected, the specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you, and the business purposes for which such Personal Information is collected and shared. You may also have the right to request the categories of Personal Information which were disclosed for business purposes, and the categories of third parties in the twelve (12) months preceding your request for your Personal Information.
      • Data Portability — The right to receive the Personal Information you have previously provided to us.
      • Erasure (deletion) — The right to have your Personal Information deleted. However, please be aware that we may not fulfill your request for deletion if we (or our service provider(s)) are required or permitted to retain your Personal Information for one or more of the following categories of purposes: (1) to complete a transaction for which the Personal Information was collected, provide a good or service requested by you, or complete a contract between us and you; (2) to ensure our website integrity, security, and functionality; (3) to comply with applicable law or a legal obligation, or exercise rights under the law (including free speech rights); or (4) to otherwise use your Personal Information internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided it.
      • Correction — You have the right to request that we correct any incorrect personal information that we collect or retain about you, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see below), we will correct (and direct any of our service providers that hold your data on our behalf to correct) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies. We may deny your correction request if (a) we believe the personal information we maintain about you is accurate; (b) correcting the information would be impossible or involve disproportionate; or (c) if the request conflicts with our legal obligations.
      • Opt Out of Sales of Personal Information — We do not sell or share your Personal Information. However, if we did, you would have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your Personal Information. You may have the right to opt out of targeted advertising and profiling, to the extent that profiling makes decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you.

      To exercise any applicable rights that may be available to you, please submit a request to us by contacting us using the information listed in Section 13 or e-mailing us at info@aarc.org.

    1. Exercising Your Privacy Rights

      Verification: We must verify your identity before fulfilling your requests.  If we cannot initially verify your identity, we may request additional information to complete the verification process. We will only use Personal Information provided in a request to verify the requestor’s identity.

      We endeavor to respond to requests within the time period required by applicable law. If we require more time, we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

      If you have a membership account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.

      We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

      We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity and confirm the Personal Information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us.

      We may deny certain requests, or only fulfill some in part, as permitted or required by law. For example, if you request to delete Personal Information, we may retain Personal Information that we need to retain for legal purposes.

    1. Contact Us

      If you have any questions about our practices or this Privacy Notice, please contact us at info@aarc.org. You may also write to us at:

      The American Association for Respiratory Care
      Attn. Privacy Department.
      9425 N. MacArthur Blvd, Suite 100
      Irving, TX 75063-4706

AARC Mobile Android App

This privacy notice for American Association for Respiratory Care (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (“process”) your information when you use our services (“Services”), such as when you:

  • Download and use our mobile application ({mobile app name}), or any other application of ours that links to this privacy notice
  • Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events
Questions or Concerns?

Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@aarc.org.

1. What information do we collect?

Personal information you disclose to us. We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise when you contact us.

Personal information provided by you. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

  • names
  • phone numbers
  • email addresses
  • mailing addresses

Sensitive information. We do not process sensitive information.

Application data. If you use our application(s) we also may collect the following information if you choose to provide us with access or permission:

  • Geolocation Information. We may request access or permission to track location-based information from your mobile device, while you are using our mobile application(s), to provide certain location-based services. If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your device’s settings.
  • Mobile Device Access. We may request access or permission to certain features from your mobile device, including your mobile device’s calendar, camera, contacts, storage. and other features. If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your devices settings.
  • Push Notifications. We may request to send you push notifications regarding your account or certain features of the application(s). If you wish to opt out from receiving these types of communications, you may tum them off in your devices settings.

This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our application(s), for troubleshooting, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

Information automatically collected. We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information. such as your device characteristics, operating system, device name, device model and other technical information. This information is primarily needed for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses. we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.
The information we collect includes:

  • Device Data. We collect device data such as information about the phone or tablet you use to access the Services. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your application identification numbers and system configuration information.
  • Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Services. You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services.
2. How do we process your information?

We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention; and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:

  • To send administrative information to you. We may process your information to send you details about our products and services, changes to our terms and policies. and other similar information.
  • To save or protect an individual’s vital interest. We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm.
3. When and with whom do we share your personal information?

We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following third parties.

Vendors, consultants, and other third-party service providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (“third parties”) who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. They also commit to protect the data they hold on to our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct.

The third parties we may share personal information with are as follows:

  • Web and mobile analytics — Google Analytics for Firebase.
4. Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our cookie notice.

5. How long do we keep your infomation?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice unless a longer retention period is required.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example. because your personal information has been stored in backup archives) then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

6. How do we keep your information safe?

We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures. We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.

7. Do we collect infomation from minors?

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we deem that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at info@aarc.org.

8. How can you review, update, or delete the data we collect from you?

In certain situations, you may request to review, update, delete your personal information. To do so please submit a request to info@aarc.org.