AwkTalk^TM Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

1. AGREEMENT

This website and its associated content, blog posts, and newsletters (the “Service”) is an information service provided by Nationwide Children's Hospital and its partner CelebrateOne in collaboration with Columbus Public Health and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. Nationwide Children's Hospital operates the AwkTalk^TM website, which contains information from various content providers (“Suppliers”). The Service is offered to you, the user of this Service (“you” or “your”), subject to your acceptance of and compliance with the terms and conditions as presented in this Terms of Service Agreement (“Agreement”). The terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “AwkTalk,” and “Nationwide Children's Hospital” refer collectively to the Service offered by Nationwide Children's Hospital, and are all incorporated by reference to denote Nationwide Children's Hospital. References to Nationwide Children’s Hospital also include all actions by and through its affiliates, such as parents, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, and its representatives. Your use or accessing of the Service constitutes your continued agreement to be bound by this Terms of Use Agreement (”Agreement”). You are not permitted to access the Service if you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement. This Agreement should be read carefully and in its entirety prior to using this site.

2. LICENSE

Nationwide Children's Hospital grants you a limited right (“License”) to view, listen, and use any of the information, content, or advertisements (collectively, the “Materials”) contained on, distributed through, linked, downloaded, or accessed from the Service for personal, non-commercial use only, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement. You may download or print a copy of the Materials provided in this Service for your personal, non-commercial use only, provided that you retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the original Materials on any copies of the Materials. You may not edit, adapt or otherwise modify the Materials in any way, or reproduce or publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, create derivative works from such Materials, or otherwise use them for any public or commercial purpose. Reprinting or electronically reproducing the Materials, in whole or in part, for any other purpose is expressly prohibited. Any use of the Materials on any other website or networked computer environment for any purpose is expressly prohibited. Nationwide Children's Hospital may, in its sole discretion and without prior notice, terminate or modify the Service or otherwise limit or terminate the License, whether to you individually or the public generally, without incurring any liability to you or any third party.  If you violate this Agreement, your authorization to use the Service and the Materials automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any downloaded or printed Materials obtained through the use of the Service.

3. TERMS OF USE

3.1. General Purpose of Service

The goal of the Service is to be a resource of timely information for the general public, but necessarily it is of a general nature. We cannot guarantee that the Materials are comprehensive, complete or include the most recent information available. All information should be reviewed with your healthcare provider and you should never delay, ignore, or fail to obtain medical advice based on the Materials obtained from the Service.

3.2. Proper Use of Materials

You represent and warrant that you will not use the Service or any products, information, or other materials displayed, purchased, or obtained by you as a result of an advertisement or any other information or offer in connection with the Service (the “Products”) for any purpose that is unlawful, contrary to instructions for use, or prohibited by this Agreement. Materials may not be downloaded, reproduced, republished, reprinted, retransmitted, disseminated, or resold in whole or in part, for commercial or any other purposes, and use of the Service to establish independent data files or compendiums of information is strictly prohibited and violators will be prosecuted. Without limiting the foregoing, you are solely responsible for any material that you send to any other person(s) that was made available from the Service.

3.3. Submitting Content

The Service permits the submission of user-submitted text, photographs, images and other communications and content by you and other users (collectively, "User Submissions").  If you post a User Submission on the Service, you agree to all of the following:

1. Your content will be available to the public and may be re-shared publicly by other Service users on social networks including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
2. By posting User Submissions to the Service, you automatically grant to Nationwide Children’s Hospital an irrevocable, unrestricted, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, sublicenseable, worldwide and transferable license and right, but not the obligation, to use, edit, alter, copy, reproduce, disclose, perform, display, publish, remove, prepare derivative works from, distribute, exhibit, broadcast or otherwise exploit the User Submissions, in whole or in part, in any form, media or technology, now known or hereafter developed including, without limitation, mailings, brochures, broadcast and cable television, radio, mobile transmission, the Internet and social media, and for any other purpose whatsoever including, without limitation, advertising, promotion, entertainment or commercial purposes, without any payment to or further authorization by you.  Such use may cause your User Submissions to appear on other websites, in public displays, in newspaper articles, or television, radio, or Internet news or publicity stories. You waive any right to inspect or approve any material in which Nationwide Children’s Hospital may eventually use your User Submissions and understand that Nationwide Children’s Hospital may crop, shape, or otherwise adjust any User Submission.
3. You are the owner of the content in your User Submission.
4. Use of your User Submissions on the Service or otherwise by Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in whole or in part, will not (i) infringe, violate, or misappropriate any third-party right, including any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral rights, privacy rights, rights of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right; (ii) slander, defame, libel or invade the right of privacy, publicity or other property rights of any person; or (iii) violate any law..
5. You have the written consent, release and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person in the User Submission to use the name or likeness of each and every such identifiable individual person to enable inclusion and use of the User Submissions in the manner contemplated by the Service and this Agreement without compensation or objection.
6. You will not post or transmit any User Content that contains any virus, worm, Trojan horse, or any other contaminating or destructive feature.

3.4. Prohibited User Submissions

Nationwide Children’s Hospital reserves the right to un-publish any User Submissions at any time if Nationwide Children’s Hospital deems the content of the User Submissions inappropriate in any way, including if a User Submission contains any of the following:

1. Hate speech, profanity, obscenity or vulgarity;
2. Nudity;
3. Defamation, name calling and/or personal attacks to a person or people, or to Nationwide Children’s Hospital;
4. Spam, such as the same comment posted repeatedly;
5. Content that violates the privacy of Nationwide Children’s Hospital patients and their families, employees or volunteers;
6. Financial solicitations;
7. Endorsements of a political candidate or party;
8. Proselytizing;
9. Irrelevant content that might include promotion of events, groups, pages, websites, organizations and programs not related to or affiliated with Nationwide Children’s Hospital;
10. Any mention of or reference to criminal or immoral activity, including drugs, prostitution, fraud, stalking, extortion, and terrorism; or
11. Any third-party trademarked or copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third-party proprietary rights.

3.5. Contact Us

The Contact Us page is the primary means of communication with Nationwide Children’s Hospital staff for a website visitor. Website visitors may use the Contact Us page to send content suggestions or questions about the site directly to Nationwide Children’s Hospital staff. Website visitors may also use this form to ask general questions about the Website or content, submit notification of broken links, communicate privacy concerns, and/or submit praise and/or complaints. We only have access to personal identifying information, like your first name or email address, if you voluntarily submit it. Sometimes, website visitors write to us with a personal medical question. As stated elsewhere, we generally do not answer such questions. However, there are times when a visitor includes an email address and a physician believes it is advisable to ask a follow-up question or offer a comment, for instance, in the case of a life-threatening condition. Only in these rare and serious instances will we respond to an individual communication or take action on the information. We may, unless you indicate otherwise, store, edit, and excerpt your email for use in Q&As, presentations, analyses, and other similar purposes. In these cases, we will delete any content that would specifically identify you as the writer of the email. When you contact us or otherwise post a User Submission on the Service, if you desire to remain anonymous, you should not tell us your name or the names of your friends or any other individuals. To fully protect your privacy, do not provide any information that you think may identify you or others.

3.6. Guidelines

You shall be subject to any guidelines or rules that may be posted by the Service from time to time, and all such guidelines or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into this Agreement.

3.7. Use of Your Information

We respect your privacy. We may gather and share general information about the areas, topics and communities of interest, zip codes, and products and website or linked services used or accessed by our visitors. Such information, though, would be aggregate — not individual. If you elect to provide additional information about yourself (which may include, but not be limited to, your name, e-mail address, mailing address or other background or contact information), such information may be used for the purpose for which it was given, for possible contact during an emergency, and to enforce this Agreement.

3.8. Privacy

You hereby accept the terms and conditions of the privacy practices for the Service (see below).

3.9. Links

The Service, or third parties linked to the Service, may provide links to other World Wide Web sites or resources, including sponsors. Nationwide Children's Hospital does not represent that it has investigated the content of any other links, and does not endorse, warrant or guarantee any such opinions, recommendations, products, websites, individuals, organizations, or companies. Nationwide Children's Hospital has no control over, and is not responsible for, the availability of such external sites. Nationwide Children's Hospital shall not be liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused by or in connection with use or reliance on any such website.

3.10. Copyrights and Trademarks

You shall not infringe upon any trademarks or copyrights such as “AwkTalk” and shall not reprint or electronically reproduce any Materials without our prior written consent. You acknowledge and agree that all Materials available on AwkTalk^TM web pages and newsletters are protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, or other proprietary rights and laws, and that any unauthorized use of the Materials may violate such rights and laws.

4. Notice of Copyright Infringement Policy

Nationwide Children’s Hospital does not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights on its Website, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital will remove User Submissions if properly notified that such User Submission infringes on another's intellectual property rights. Nationwide Children’s Hospital reserves the right to remove User Submissions without prior notice. Nationwide Children’s Hospital may also terminate a user's access to its Website if they are determined to be a repeat infringer. A repeat infringer is a user who has been notified of infringing activity more than twice and/or has had a User Submission removed from the Website more than twice.

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any User Submission, materials or other content infringes upon your copyrights, you may notify us by providing the following information in writing:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
2. Identification of the location where the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists, for example the URL of the website where it is posted;
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and a description of the infringing activity and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an e-mail address;
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Our agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on this site can be reached as follows:

Aaron Stenhoff
Senior Director, Digital Engagement
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Columbus, OH 43205
askchildrens@nationwidechildrens.org
614.355.0485

You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements above, your notice may not be valid.

5. DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

5.1. General

The information provided through this Service is for educational purposes only. The Materials provide user-friendly factual information to young people and their families, backed by medical experts, helping teens make informed decisions, avoid unplanned pregnancies and reduce their sexually transmitted infection risk. However, the information contained within the AwkTalk^TM website does not constitute medical, legal or other professional advice. The information presented on this website or sent to you electronically in response to a message from you is meant for general educational purposes only. It is not intended or implied to serve as specific medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should never be a substitute for consultation with a physician or other health professional. If you have, or think you might have, a medical problem or symptom, please consult a medical professional right away. The text and audio that may be displayed, played, or obtained through the Service at any one time may contain only a portion of relevant information.

5.2. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND NEITHER NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL NOR ANY OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF NOR ANY OTHER PERSON MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY WITH RESPECT TO THE CONTENTS OF THIS SERVICE OR INFORMATION FURNISHED BY THEM OR OUR AGENTS, EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES. NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW AND NEGATES ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, CORRECTNESS, NONINFRINGEMENT, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR USE, APPLICATION OR PURPOSE. NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS CONCERNING THE ACCURACY, LIKELY RESULTS, OR RELIABILITY OF THE USES OF THESE MATERIALS ON ITS WEB PAGES, BLOG POSTS, PODCASTS, NEWSLETTERS, OR OTHERWISE RELATING TO SUCH MATERIALS OR ON ANY SITES LINKED TO THESE PAGES. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties.  In such jurisdictions, the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you.

5.3. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

YOU HEREBY ALSO AGREE THAT NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, THE SERVICE, AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES, SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, CLAIMS, DEMANDS OR CAUSES OF ACTION, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE, (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF DATA OR PROFIT, OR DUE TO BUSINESS INTERRUPTION), AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SERVICE OR ANY INFORMATION YOU OBTAIN ON IT OR ANY OTHER INTERACTION WITH NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL’S AWKTALK WEBSITE, ITS WEB PAGES, PODCASTS, NEWSLETTERS, OR ITS SUBSIDIARIES, EVEN IF NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HAS BEEN NOTIFIED ORALLY OR IN WRITING OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. IN USING THESE WEB PAGES, BLOG POSTS, PODCASTS, NEWSLETTERS, OR ANY OTHER SERVICES, YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE WAIVING VOLUNTARILY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY ANY LIABILITY OF NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, AWKTALK, ITS WEB PAGES, BLOG POSTS, PODCASTS, NEWSLETTERS, AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES. In some jurisdictions, limitations of liability are not permitted. In such jurisdictions, the foregoing limitations on liability may not apply to you.

5.4. Non-Endorsement

We do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the Materials, nor the quality of any Products. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any Materials or Products is at your sole risk and you shall exercise your own informed judgment and evaluation on the use of the Products.

5.5. Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing on Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s website and web pages could include technical or typographical errors. Nationwide Children’s Hospital does not warrant that any of the Materials on its AwkTalk^TM web pages, podcasts, or newsletters are accurate, complete, or current. Nationwide Children’s Hospital may make changes to the Materials contained on its web pages, podcasts, and newsletters at any time without notice.

5.6. File Viruses

We do not make any representation or warranty concerning errors, omissions, delays or other defects in the information supplied to you or other users of the Service, regardless of source of the problem, or that any files are free from viruses, worms, Trojan horses or any other code or source that includes or manifests contaminating or destructive characteristics.

5.7. Your Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Nationwide Children’s Hospital, its affiliates and their respective officers, sponsors, directors, agents and employees, harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, or causes of action, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including but not limited to attorneys’ fees) arising from (i) any aspect of your use of the Service, (ii) your violation of this Agreement, (iii) your violation of any third party right including, without limitation, any copyright, trademark, trade secret, or privacy right, or (iv) any claim that one of your User Submissions caused damage to a third party. This defense and indemnification obligation will survive termination of this Agreement.

6. MISCELLANEOUS

6.1. Entire Agreement; Amendments

This Agreement takes effect on your first use of the Service and constitutes your entire agreement with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications or agreements. It applies to all persons accessing the Service from your computer or any other electronic device. We have the right to amend this Agreement at any time without notice to you by posting the changes or the entire Agreement as revised. You will regularly review this Agreement for any changes and your use of the Service following any changes constitutes your acceptance of the Agreement as changed or revised.

6.2. Dispute Resolution

Any dispute concerning this Agreement or your use of the Service, Materials or Products shall be governed by the applicable federal laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of Ohio, excluding its choice of law principles, must be brought within 12 months after the claim or cause of action arises, and shall be brought exclusively in the United States District Court for Southern Ohio or the state courts for City of Columbus, Ohio and County of Franklin, Ohio, and you consent to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, each party to this Agreement waives its or his right to a jury trial with respect to any action brought under or in connection with this Agreement. In any dispute between us and you concerning the Service, we shall be entitled to recover attorney fees, costs and expenses.

6.3. Agreement Interpretation

The headings used in this Agreement are for convenience only and are not to be used in determining the meaning or interpretation of this Agreement. If any provision in this Agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be severed from the Agreement without affecting the enforceability of all remaining provisions.

7. PRIVACY PRACTICES

7.1. Overview

Your privacy concerns are important to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Our privacy practices are designed to protect your Personal Information (as defined below) while providing the services available on our website. You may use the Service without giving us specific Personal Information that identifies you. “Personal Information” includes, but is not limited to, name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and similar information. Personal Information is collected only if you voluntarily provide it on the website; however, certain information may be required to complete some services provided. If you do not wish to provide the information requested on a screen, or if you have concerns about maintaining the confidentiality of any information, do not provide it. If at any time you do not feel fully confident about the information you are providing, please feel free to contact us.

If you visit a website linked to the AwkTalk^TM website, you should consult that website’s privacy practices before providing Personal Information to that website. In making your decision whether to provide Personal Information, you should be aware of the general risks of transmitting information over the Internet. While Nationwide Children’s Hospital attempts to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing or tampering with our website, we cannot guarantee that these efforts will always be successful.

BY USING OR ACCESSING OUR WEBSITES OR BY PROVIDING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US ON OR THROUGH THESE WEBSITES, YOU CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION, USE, TRANSFER AND DISCLOSURE OF THAT INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY AGREEMENT AND APPLICABLE LAW.

7.2. Personal Information We Collect, and Why We Collect It

You do not have to sign up or create an account to use the AwkTalk^TM website. You do not have to provide AwkTalk.org any personal information, unless you would like to voluntarily provide it. We gather and retain personal information about you, including your name, email address, or other personal or background information only when you voluntarily submit it to us in a Contact Form on the Contact Us webpage.

General Cookies:

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

Contact Forms:

We use the WordPress plugin “Ninja Forms” for our contact and inquiry forms.  Ninja Forms saves a backup of submitted information in the database of our website before sending us a notification email. If, at any time, you would like us to provide this contact form information (Right to Access) or delete this information (Right to Be Forgotten) from our database, simply contact us and we will be happy to comply. Information submitted to us via a Contact Form is retained indefinitely.

Embedded Content:

The Services and Materials on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website, and are beholden to that site’s privacy policy.

Google Analytics Tracking:

Our website uses Google Analytics tracking to measure traffic data. We use the WordPress plugin “Analytify” to place the tracking code. This plugin is set to anonymize user IP data and respect “Do Not Track” browser features so that no personal data is stored.

7.3. With Whom We Share Your Information

Unless doing so is required by law, we will only share identifying information about you when: we have your consent to do so; it is necessary to maintain the integrity of our products; it promotes safety and security; or it protects the well-being of our users. On some of our webpages, we offer interactive forms that let you voluntarily submit personal information (such as your e-mail address and/or name). In those cases, all submitted information is used only for the expressed purposes for which it is intended and is not made available to or sold to any third party.

If you voluntarily provide us with personal information—for example by completed a Contact Form on our Contact Us webpage—we may use that information to respond to your message and/or help us get you the information or services you asked for. Submitting personal information (name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.) is voluntary and is not required to access information on our website.

Additionally, saved information/data is included in our routine site backup system (through The Wonder Jam and cloud backup software).

7.4. How Long Will We Keep Your Information

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. Contact Form submissions, as noted above, are also retained indefinitely unless you ask us to delete that information.

7.5. What Rights Do You Have to Saved Data

You may request to receive an exported file of the personal information and data we hold about you, including any information or data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal information or data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

7.6. Information and Data Security

AwkTalk.org employs reasonable security measures to protect the personal information You submit to it. Such security involves the use of SSL-secured Web forms, firewalls, and other commonly employed security methods. Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible. We also use regular Malware Scanning.

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

7.7. Children’s Personal Information

We recognize the importance of protecting privacy where children are involved. AwkTalk.org will take all reasonable steps necessary to protect the privacy and safety of any child from whom information is collected. This site is not for use by children under the age of 13. Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to provide information on this site. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under the age of 13. If a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information online, we ask that a parent or guardian contact us at PrivacyOffice@NationwideChildrens.org and that information will be deleted.

7.8. Privacy Contact

If You are concerned about the information You have provided to AwkTalk.org or would like to review, update, or delete that information, please contact us at:

Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Attention: Privacy Officer

700 Children’s Drive

Columbus OH 43205

PrivacyOffice@NationwideChildrens.org

AwkTalk and AwkTalk.org are trademarks of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Last updated November 30, 2020