Effective Date: August 9, 2026
Last Updated: August 9, 2026
Next Scheduled Review: August 9, 2027
MBS Health Network is a Pennsylvania nonprofit organization (“MBS Health Network,” “MBS,” “we,” “our,” or “us”). We respect your privacy and are committed to handling personal information responsibly.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and safeguard personal information when you:
This policy applies to MBS-operated programs and initiatives, including the Sickle Cell Hope Foundation and Hope Starts Here, unless a different privacy notice is provided for a particular program or service.
This Privacy Policy is a notice of our privacy practices. Certain activities may also be governed by separate terms, consent forms, releases, program notices, or other agreements.
The information we collect depends on how you interact with us.
We may collect:
Please do not submit Social Security numbers, complete medical records, insurance identifiers, financial-account credentials, or other highly sensitive information unless we specifically request it through an approved and secure process.
Some MBS programs, wellness activities, support requests, or surveys may invite you to provide health-related information, such as a health condition, accessibility need, wellness goal, caregiver status, or information relevant to program participation. We collect such information only when reasonably related to the program or request and when you provide it voluntarily or authorize its collection.
We limit access to sensitive information to authorized persons who need it for an appropriate purpose. We do not use identifiable health-related information for targeted advertising, and we do not sell it.
Unless we expressly tell you otherwise, MBS Health Network is not acting as your healthcare provider, health plan, or medical adviser. Information submitted to MBS is not automatically protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). If we receive information in a context governed by HIPAA or another health-privacy law, a separate notice, authorization, agreement, or legally required protection may apply.
When you use the Site, we and our service providers may automatically collect:
We use this information to operate, secure, troubleshoot, measure, and improve the Site and our outreach.
We may receive information from payment processors, event partners, referral organizations, social-media platforms, analytics providers, public sources, and other parties when permitted by law. For example, a payment processor may provide us with confirmation that a donation was completed, and an event partner may provide information needed to administer a jointly operated event.
We may use personal information to:
The Site may use WordPress, WooCommerce, and third-party payment, subscription, fraud-prevention, shipping, or transaction providers. Payment information is transmitted to the applicable payment processor. MBS does not intend to directly collect or store complete payment-card numbers or card security codes on its own systems.
We may receive and retain information associated with a transaction, including your name, contact information, billing or shipping address, donation or order amount, limited payment details, transaction identifier, payment status, recurring-payment status, and purchase or donation history.
Payment processors and other transaction providers handle information under their own privacy policies and terms. We encourage you to review the notices presented during checkout.
We retain donation and transaction records as reasonably necessary for accounting, tax, audit, fraud-prevention, legal, and reporting obligations. A request to delete information may not require us to delete records that we are legally or operationally required to maintain.
The Site may use cookies, pixels, tags, local storage, logs, and similar technologies. These technologies may be used to:
Cookies may be strictly necessary, functional, analytics, or advertising/social-media cookies, depending on the tools active on the Site. Where required, we will request consent before activating nonessential cookies.
You may manage cookies through an available cookie-preference tool and through your browser settings. Blocking certain cookies may affect Site functionality. Browser-based “Do Not Track” signals are not interpreted consistently across the industry. Where legally required and technically supported, we will process recognized opt-out preference signals, such as Global Privacy Control, as applicable to the browser or device sending the signal.
We may disclose personal information to the following categories of recipients for legitimate operational purposes:
We may disclose information that has been aggregated or de-identified so that it cannot reasonably be linked to you. We will not attempt to re-identify information that we maintain as de-identified except to test whether our de-identification processes are effective or as otherwise permitted by law.
MBS does not sell or rent personal information. We also do not disclose personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as those concepts are defined under applicable state privacy laws. If our practices change, we will update this policy and provide any legally required choices before applying the changed practice.
If you subscribe to promotional emails, you may unsubscribe by using the link in the message or by contacting us. We may still send nonpromotional communications, such as donation receipts, order updates, registration confirmations, safety notices, and responses to your requests.
If you separately opt in to text messages, message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of promotional text messages by replying STOP or following the instructions in the message. Consent to receive marketing messages is not a condition of donating, purchasing, or receiving services unless clearly stated and legally permitted.
We apply safeguards appropriate to the nature and sensitivity of the information we maintain. We seek to minimize the health-related information we collect and use it only for appropriate program, service, safety, evaluation, or legal purposes described at collection.
Depending on the service and the way information is maintained, certain health-related information may be subject to federal or state health-privacy or breach-notification requirements even when HIPAA does not apply. If a data incident occurs, we will investigate it and notify affected individuals, regulators, law enforcement, media, or other parties when required by applicable law.
The Site and MBS educational materials do not provide medical diagnosis, treatment, or emergency services. Do not use the Site to communicate a medical emergency. Call 911 or contact an appropriate healthcare professional for urgent medical assistance.
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, including to:
Retention periods vary based on the type of information, the context in which it was collected, legal requirements, and operational needs. When information is no longer reasonably needed, we may securely delete, destroy, or de-identify it.
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information. These may include access controls, secure configuration, encryption where appropriate, service-provider oversight, backups, monitoring, staff practices, and procedures for responding to suspected incidents.
No method of transmission, system, or storage is completely secure. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee absolute security. You should use caution when transmitting information online and avoid sending sensitive information through ordinary email or unsecured forms.
Subject to applicable law and certain exceptions, you may ask us to:
Submit a request by emailing info@mbs-health.com, calling (570) 202-0348, or writing to the address listed in Section 18.
We may need to verify your identity and authority before fulfilling a request. You may use an authorized agent where permitted by law, but we may require proof of the agent’s authority and verification of your identity. We will not discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.
Some requests may be denied or limited when an exception applies—for example, when information must be retained to complete a transaction, maintain required donation or tax records, protect security, prevent fraud, exercise legal rights, or comply with law. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law and explain our decision when required.
Our general-audience Site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from a child under 13 through the general Site without legally sufficient authorization. If we learn that such information was collected inappropriately, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
MBS may offer programs or events intended for children and families. Those activities may use a separate registration process, privacy notice, consent form, release, or verifiable permission from a parent or legal guardian where required. A parent or legal guardian may contact us to ask about information associated with their child.
We will seek appropriate permission before intentionally using an identifiable person’s photograph, video, testimonial, health story, or similar content in public promotional materials when permission is required. Separate releases or consent forms may apply.
If a donation, sponsorship, giveaway, event, or program offers public recognition, we will honor available anonymity and recognition choices. Giveaway winners may be identified only as described in the applicable official rules and consent process.
The Site may link to or embed content from third-party websites and services, including payment pages, maps, videos, social-media platforms, and partner websites. Those third parties may collect information directly from you and may use cookies or similar technologies. Their handling of information is governed by their own privacy policies and terms, not this Privacy Policy.
Your interactions with MBS on social-media platforms are also subject to the privacy practices of the applicable platform. We encourage you to review third-party privacy notices before providing information.
Privacy rights vary by jurisdiction, and some nonprofit organizations or activities may be exempt from particular state privacy laws. Where an applicable law grants you additional rights, MBS will honor those rights as required.
Depending on where you live and the law that applies, these rights may include access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, withdrawal of consent, appeal of a denied request, or the right to opt out of certain sales, sharing, profiling, or targeted advertising.
If we deny a request and applicable law gives you a right to appeal, you may appeal by emailing info@mbs-health.comwith the subject line Privacy Request Appeal. We will provide information about any further complaint process when required.
MBS is based in the United States, and the Site is primarily intended for individuals in the United States. If you access the Site from another country, your information may be transferred to, processed, and stored in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your location. Where required, we will use an appropriate legal basis or safeguard for such processing.
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our programs, technology, service providers, or legal obligations. We will post the revised policy on this page and update the “Last Updated” date. If a change is material, we may provide additional notice when required or appropriate.
We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
If you have questions, concerns, complaints, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, contact:
MBS Health Network Privacy Officer
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Email: info@mbs-health.com
Telephone: (570) 202-0348
Website: https://mbs-health.com
Please do not include medical records, payment-card numbers, Social Security numbers, or other highly sensitive information in an ordinary email.