Global PAD Association
Effective Date: July 20, 2026 | Last Updated: July 20, 2026
Global PAD Association respects your privacy. This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect through the My Steps walking program app and The Great Circulation Challenge, how we use and share it, and how you may ask questions, unsubscribe from future emails, or request deletion of your information.
Global PAD Association operates The Great Circulation Challenge, a walking and awareness initiative designed to encourage movement, build community, raise awareness of circulation and peripheral artery disease, and determine whether the Challenge encourages participants to keep walking after the group challenge ends.
Global PAD Association also offers My Steps, a mobile application that supports a structured walking program for people living with peripheral artery disease (PAD). This Notice covers both the My Steps app and the Challenge. Some information described below is collected only through the app's walking program, some only through the Challenge, and this Notice tells you which is which.
We collect only the information needed to register participants, operate the Challenge, run the walking program, organize teams, track progress, communicate with participants, and evaluate the program.
If you use the My Steps app for your walking program, we also collect the health information needed to run that program and share your progress with your care team:
We do not collect your precise location; the app requests no location permission and never reads GPS. We do not use advertising networks or cross-app tracking, and we show no ads. Your smoking log, if you use that feature, is stored only on your own device and is not sent to our servers.
A participant's choice to identify as a patient or join a physician-related team may suggest a health-related affiliation. We use that information only for the Challenge purposes described in this Notice.
Step totals may be entered by the participant or transmitted to the Challenge through a step-tracking feature or service the participant chooses to use. We collect only the step information made available to the Challenge.
If you connect phone step tracking in the My Steps app, we request read-only access to step counts and nothing else — no heart rate, no location, no other health records. Syncing begins from the moment you connect; we do not import your step history from before that moment. We use this data only to credit your walking miles, do not sell it, and do not share it except as described in this Notice. You can disconnect at any time in the app and revoke the permission in your phone's Health Connect or Health settings. This use complies with the Google Play health data policies, including the Limited Use requirements.
Global PAD Association may use participant information to:
Not medical monitoring. The Great Circulation Challenge is not a medical-monitoring, diagnosis, treatment, or emergency-response service. A physician's connection to a team does not mean the physician is monitoring a participant's health or reviewing the participant's activity. The My Steps walking program helps you and your own care team track your walking over time, but it is not a medical device, does not provide medical advice, and is not a substitute for professional care or emergency services.
When a participant joins a team, the participant's full name will be visible to the designated team lead so the team lead can know who joined and administer the team. The team lead may also receive information reasonably needed for Challenge administration and awards, including the participant's team membership, total steps, milestones, completion status, ranking, and award eligibility.
Email addresses are not shared with team leads. A participant's email address will not be provided to a physician team lead or another team lead through the Challenge.
The Challenge may display a participant's name or display name, team, step total, milestones, or ranking on participant or team leaderboards. The information shown will depend on how the applicable leaderboard is configured.
Team leads may use participant information only for Challenge-related team administration, recognition, certificates, and awards. They may not use it for unrelated advertising, independent marketing, employment decisions, insurance decisions, or data brokerage.
We may share information in the following limited ways:
We do not sell participant information. We do not sell participant names, email addresses, team membership, participant category, or step information. We do not provide participant email addresses to sponsors or team leads for their independent marketing.
Global PAD Association may analyze Challenge information to understand whether the Challenge inspires participants to take more steps, walk more consistently, and continue after the group Challenge ends.
Whenever practical, information shared outside Global PAD Association for evaluation, reporting, sponsorship updates, or public communications will be aggregated or deidentified so that it does not directly identify individual participants. Examples may include total registrations, total steps, number of teams, broad participant categories, team results, and the percentage of participants who continue beyond the group Challenge.
We use participant email addresses to send information about registration and the current Challenge, including team information, progress updates, certificates, awards, support, privacy matters, security issues, and important program changes.
We may also use participant email addresses to share information about future Global PAD Association challenges, educational programs, events, and related opportunities.
If you use the My Steps app, we may also send walking reminders and encouragement by push notification and by text message. You can reply STOP to any text message to opt out, or turn reminders off in the app. Message and data rates may apply.
Participants may unsubscribe from future event and program emails at any time. They may use the unsubscribe option included in an email or contact MySteps@thewaytomyheart.org. Unsubscribing from future event and program emails will not prevent messages that are necessary to administer an active Challenge, respond to a request, or address a privacy or security matter.
We keep identifiable participant information only for as long as it is reasonably needed to operate the Challenge, support ongoing participation, run your walking program, administer teams and awards, evaluate the program, respond to requests, prevent misuse, and meet legal obligations.
A participant may request deletion of their information by emailing MySteps@thewaytomyheart.org, or by using the delete-account option in the app. We may ask for information needed to verify the request. After verification, we will delete or deidentify information that we are not required to keep for legal, security, fraud-prevention, or dispute-resolution reasons.
Aggregated or deidentified statistics that no longer identify a participant may be retained for historical reporting and program evaluation.
Global PAD Association takes reasonable steps to protect participant information and limits access to people and service providers who need it for Challenge and walking program operations. Information is protected in transit using encryption. No electronic system can be guaranteed completely secure.
Global PAD Association is based in the United States, and participant information may be processed in the United States or in other locations where our service providers operate.
Depending on where a participant lives, the participant may have rights to ask what information we hold, request a copy, correct information, request deletion, object to or restrict certain uses, withdraw consent where consent applies, or complain to a privacy regulator.
To make a privacy request, email MySteps@thewaytomyheart.org. We will respond in accordance with applicable law and may need to verify the requester's identity.
The Great Circulation Challenge and the My Steps app are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we collected information from a child in a manner that requires parental permission and did not receive that permission, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
The Challenge and app may use or link to third-party services. Those services may have their own privacy practices. Participants should review the privacy settings and notices of any device, app, step-tracking service, or website they choose to use with the Challenge.
We may update this Privacy Notice when the Challenge, the app, our practices, or legal requirements change. We will post the updated Notice and change the "Last Updated" date. If a change materially affects how we use or share participant information, we will provide additional notice when required.
Global PAD Association
For questions about this Privacy Notice, requests to access or delete information, or requests to be removed from future event and program emails, contact: MySteps@thewaytomyheart.org