TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
Welcome to the Mercy Medical Center Family Caregivers Center Online Community website. This website is designed to be a place for family caregivers to find support from and networking opportunities with other caregivers, access information and resources to assist with being a caregiver and enable current and future volunteers to help with the Family Caregivers Center.
1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT. Your use of the Family Caregivers Center Online Community website, along with any associated websites, mobile apps, or online or mobile-enabled technology that display or link to this text (together, the “Site”) is governed by this Terms of Use Agreement between Mercycare Service Corporation (“Mercy”) and you (the “Agreement”). Your use of the Site is subject to your acceptance of and continued compliance with the Agreement, the Site Privacy Notice, and the Site Community Guidelines. In addition, your use of the Site is subject to any posted guidelines, policies, or rules posted and updated from time to time on the Site by Mercy and incorporated into this Agreement by reference.
Mercy reserves the right to revise or update this Agreement at any time by posting the modified terms to the Site. You are responsible for regularly reviewing the User Agreement and your use of the Site after any posted changes signifies your acceptance of all the terms and conditions contained within the Agreement at the time of your use. You can review the most current version of this Agreement at any time at https://online.familycaregiverscenter.org/termsofuse
By using the website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and accepted the terms of this Agreement. If you do not agree to the terms of the Agreement, you may not access or use any part of the Site.
2. USE OF THE SITE. By submitting content to the site, you represent and warrant that:
· All content that you post is accurate.
· You are at least eighteen years old.
· You are the sole author of any posted material or own the rights to the content that you post.
· Use of the content you supply does not violate this Agreement and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
You further agree and warrant that you shall not submit any content that:
· Infringes on the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights.
· Is known by you to be false, inaccurate, or misleading.
· Is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, hateful, or embarrassing to any other person or entity as determined by Mercy in its sole discretion.
· Constitutes or includes an advertisement or solicitation of business.
· Violates any law, statute, ordinance, or regulation (including but not limited to those governing unfair competition, anti-discrimination, or false advertising).
· Includes any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “spam,” “chain letters,” or any other form of solicitation.
· Contains any computer viruses or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
3. LICENSE GRANT. By submitting content to the Site, you grant Mercy a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free transferable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, delete it in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology without your expectations of any review or compensation. You hereby waive all rights to any claim against Mercy for any alleged or actual infringements of any proprietary rights, rights of privacy and publicity, moral rights, and rights of attribution in connection with such use of the Site.
4. USER SUBMISSIONS. Mercy reserves the right to change, condense or delete any content on the Site that Mercy deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of this Agreement. Additionally, in its sole discretion, Mercy reserves the right to remove or refuse to post any submission for any or no reason. You acknowledge that you, not Mercy, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content you submit shall be subject to any confidentiality obligations on the part of Mercy, its agents, subsidiaries, partners, or third-party service providers and their respective directors, officers, employees, and volunteers. Mercy does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Mercy to edit or delete any content you have submitted. However, you may request Mercy to remove your post from the Site by submitting a written request by email to: FCGCModerator@mercycare.org.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Mercy, its officers, directors, employees, volunteers, agents, affiliates, third-party service providers and others involved in the online Site from any third-party claims, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, costs, or expenses relating to your use of the Site, any material you have posted, any violation by you of this Agreement or information obtained from this Site.
5. OWNERSHIP OF SITE. The Site is owned by Mercy. You acknowledge that this website may contain information, communications, software, photos, text, video, graphics, music, sounds, images and other materials and services (collectively, “Content”), all of which is either owned by Mercy or licensors of Mercy. Except as specifically provided in this Agreement, your use of the Content shall be governed and constrained by applicable patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws and Mercy policies.
6. THE SITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. This Site and its Content are for informational purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for any professional or medical care or advice. If you or a care recipient have a health-related question or suspect a medical emergency contact your doctor or dial 911 immediately. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before starting any new treatment or if you have any questions regarding symptoms or a medical condition.
This Site includes facts, views, opinions, and recommendations of individuals and organizations deemed of interest to the community concerned about family caregivers. You acknowledge and agree that these views, opinions, and recommendations are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should always seek the assistance of a physician or other healthcare professional for medical and other health matters.
7. FUTURE CORRESPONDENCE. By submitting your email address, you agree that Mercy and its third-party service providers may use your email address to contact you.
8. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND USE OF CONTENT. The Site and its Content and images and all copyright, trademark, and other rights in the Content herein are owned by Mercy. You may not use such marks without prior written permission from Mercy. All other names, brands and marks are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
You may, on an occasional and irregular basis, reproduce, distribute, display or transmit an insubstantial portion of the Content, for personal, non-commercial purpose and without charge, to a limited number of individuals, provided you include all copyright and other proprietary rights notices with such portion of the Content in the same form in which the notices appear at the Site, the original source attribution, and the phrase “Used with permission from Mercy.” However, you may not post any Content from this Site to forums, newsgroups, mail lists, electronic bulletin boards, or other websites, without the prior written consent of Mercy. In addition, you agree not to use any of the trademarks that appear on this Site in any way.
Mercy respects the intellectual property of others and expects that all Site users do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide the following information to the Mercy Copyright Agent and General Counsel at Mercycare Service Corporation, 701 10th St. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403, Attn: General Counsel: (a) an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest; (b) a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed; (c) a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site; (d) your address, telephone number, and email address; (e) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and (f) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.
9. THIRD-PARTY LINKS. As a convenience to you, this Site may contain links to websites operated by persons or entities other than Mercy. A link from the Site to another website is not intended to and does not imply or mean that Mercy endorses the content on that website or the operators or the operations of that website. Mercy does not review and expressly disclaims responsibility for posted materials or activities on linked sites. You are solely responsible for determining the extent to which you use any content at any websites to which you link from the Site. You agree not to hold Mercy responsible for the content or operation of such websites.
10. REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Some services and resources at this Site are available only to those who register. Registrants must be eighteen years of age or older. You agree that your registration information is accurate, complete, and current. You further agree to update that information to keep it accurate, complete, and current. Mercy reserves the right to immediately, without prior notice, issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend, or terminate your use of and access to the Site, at its sole discretion, for any reason, whether with or without cause or warning, and without liability. Your sole remedy against Mercy in the event of a dispute arising out of this Agreement, the Site, or your use thereof, is to terminate this Agreement by ceasing your use of the site. In the event of termination of this Agreement, Mercy may delete and/or store, in its discretion, data associated with your use of the site.
11. ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS. Registered users may participate in online communications through the Discussion Boards and other online services the Site offers. Online communications may or may not occur in real-time. Mercy disclaims any duty to screen, monitor, or approve communications from Site users in advance. Mercy has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor online communications and to edit, abridge or remove Content that Mercy, in its sole discretion, determines to be harmful, offensive, unlawful or otherwise in violation of this Agreement. Mercy does not guarantee that every message submitted will be posted and reserves the right to disclose any message submitted as necessary to satisfy applicable law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request. By posting a message, uploading a file, or engaging in any other form of communication to or through this Site, you represent and warrant that you are the owner of such communications or have all rights necessary to upload, post, transmit and otherwise use them for your intended purpose. You recognize that your communications will be accessible to other registered users. You waive all rights to any claim against Mercy for any actual or alleged infringement of any proprietary rights, rights of privacy or publicity, moral rights, and rights of attribution in connection with your communications.
Mercy does not endorse and specifically disclaims any responsibility or liability for any opinion, statement, information, or material displayed or distributed through this Site by parties other than Mercy, whether Mercy or a user first selects a topic. Mercy reserves the right to expel users and prevent their further access to the Site for violating this Agreement or the law. You acknowledge that by using this Site, you may be exposed to inaccurate or unreliable information or material you find objectionable. In this respect, your use of the Site and your reliance upon any such third-party information or material is at your own risk. Mercy has the right, but not the obligation, to correct any errors or omissions in any portion of the website.
12. DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. Use of the Site and reliance on the Site Content are at your own risk. Mercy does not assume liability for the materials, information, and opinions provided on, or available through, the Site. Rely on the Site Content solely at your own risk. Mercy disclaims any liability for injury or damages resulting from the using any Site Content. The Site, Site Content and the products and services provided on or available through this website are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. Neither Mercy nor any person associated with Mercy makes any warranty or representation with respect to quality, accuracy, or availability of the Site. Neither Mercy nor anyone associated with Mercy warrants or represents the Site, the Site Content, or the services provided on or through this website will be available, accessible, uninterrupted, timely, secure, accurate, complete, reliable, or error-free; that defects will be corrected; that the Site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses other harmful components; or that the Site will otherwise meet your needs or expectations. Mercy disclaims all warranties of kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, non-infringement, merchantability, and/or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will Mercy be liable for any damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use the Site, the Site Content, any services provided on or through this Site or any linked website, including any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, including but not limited to, personal injury, damages resulting from delay, liability or loss associated with unauthorized access to personally identifiable information, interruption in service, viruses, deletion of files or electronic communications, or errors, omissions or other inaccuracies in the Site or the Site Content, even if such damages result from Mercy’s negligence or gross negligence and even if Mercy has been advised of the possibility of any such damages. You understand and acknowledge that your sole and exclusive remedy with respect to any defect in or dissatisfaction with the site or site content is to cease using the site and site content.
13. PRIVACY; PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION. You acknowledge and agree that the Site is an online, public community. When you post or submit Content on the Site, it is publicly available for anyone to see. For your own privacy and that of your family, please consider carefully how much detailed personal information linked to your name you want published to the Internet. Mercy’s use of your personal information and your responsibilities in connection with protecting your privacy are described in our Site Privacy Notice (which link is available on the top of each Site page) which is incorporated into and made part of this Agreement.
14. APPLICABLE LAW. This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Iowa, without regard to conflicts of law principles. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Linn County, Iowa, with respect to any action arising in connection with the Site.
(Last revised 9/2024)