Saved my life. 25 years of professional advice. Always reviewed my file and results before meeting and was prepared.

Submitted Nov. 10, 2021

90 minutes waiting while he chatted with a colleague (I could hear the casual conversation as I sat right around the corner from his office). Then, without even listening with a stethoscope to my lungs, examining me in any way, or asking my symptoms, he advised me that he "wasn't convinced that I have asthma". Any MD who has previously listened to my lungs can easily hear that I have asthma! What does he suggest after spending a few minutes with me? Tests with his machine that causes an allergic reaction testing for asthma, and it was beyond awful! I still have issues with my lungs months later from this. I can only think that this was a test that yields him a high charge to AHC, far more than a simple exam would yield. I hate to think this horrible reaction I've experienced was just for lining his pocket, but it sure seems to be. The end result of all this: "You have asthma", which I already knew! Shameful.

Submitted April 5, 2021

Excellent doctor with a lot of experience. Wait times are not long.

Submitted Aug. 26, 2020

I find Dr. Van Olm a good pulmonologist. He explained to me everything about the results of my breathing test and how my lungs are functioning. And along the way of consultation and treatment, he even checked my heart and referred me to have an EKG. I find him a thorough and a good doctor.

Submitted March 6, 2020

Honestly I felt Dr Van Olm to be very intelligent in his own regard and helpful to the extent he could be. I thought he was very kind, patient and understanding. The clinic he works in is a disaster. I work in healthcare and noted so many things I was not impressed by. For starters, my original appointment was booked in August. I went all the way there (after taking time off work) only to find I already did one of the tests they wanted me to do and that the doctor wasn’t even there. ? So I rebooked and the next available appointment was not until NOVEMBER.... I go to my appointment on time, sat in the waiting room for over 40 minutes before anyone wanted to tell me “sorry, he’s running behind” which I also felt was poor service. One of the receptionists was wearing UGG boots which I also thought was highly unprofessional. In my own personal opinion. The nurse who brought me in was nice enough, however she sat me in a chair with her back to me and started charting on her previous patient and I could see every single thing about the patient on their chart. Including name, DOB, her notes. Etc. Being a nurse I found that extremely unprofessional and inappropriate. Total patient confidentiality issue. Anyways as I said Dr Van Olm himself was helpful and kind, also smart but not snotty about It like some doctors. Even though I am a nurse he did a great job of still explaining things to me instead of just assuming I would know due to profession. So in summary - doctor - great, clinic and staff - needs +++ improvement.

Submitted Nov. 14, 2019

My experience was good. He was pleasant and quickly had me set up at foothills for a lung scope. No issues, but I've had just 1 visit thus far....

Submitted Oct. 12, 2019

He is like in the middle between crazy and genius. I guess it depends which day you see him. Was sent to him back in 2005 for what I describe as an alien trying to claw it's way out from inside me through my back. On my 1st appointment within minutes he is telling me I need to have a biopsy. I see him on a Friday he is scheduling me at Rocky View for Monday. I am losing my mind b/c he is not telling me what he suspects is wrong with me. After the biopsy turns out I have this weird thing called Sarcodosis. Do you notice a trend in the reviews many of us have Sarcodosis. Anyway seen Dr van Oln regularly until I moved away from Calgary in 2011. Not sure why I kept seeing him as we weren't treating anything he just kept telling me to come back so I did. We would redo tests and keep tabs on my alien when one day he randomly tested me for vitamin deficiencies turned out I was super low on Vit D & A like so low I should have been dead. He never tried to find out WHY I was deficient just told me to take insane amounts of supplements. It was only 3 years later when I asked my regular Dr to test me for Celiac's b/c 3 family members were diagnosed and Sarcodosis is a risk factor. I came back positive but with ZERO symptoms so not Dr van Olm's fault but I feel he should have tried to figure out why I was deficient instead of trying get me to see his wife for IV therapy. See there is where the crazy comes in. Look up his wife Dr Seriano and you will see what I'm taking about. Another bit of crazy is when he told me a prescription medication my family Dr had me on was synthetic cocaine. I am not joking I wish I was. I spoke to my family Dr about this synthetic cocaine and he sighed heavily and smirked then he said "Dr van Olm is a brilliant mind but he can be a little different at times." Good to know. I trust my family Dr 110% I still see him even though I live 300 km away so if he felt that Dr van Olm was/is good I would see him again. That being said if he says something crazy like you are taking synthetic cocaine I would just disregard that as the crazy and go with your gut for the genius part. Oh and he is least punctual Dr ever. The one review where some said he was running 5 hours behind yeah that's legit. I learned after appointment 2 or 3 just take the whole day off from work b/c he was NEVER on time. I was always a min of 2 hours behind. In the last few years I got smart and started calling a couple of hours prior to my appointment to see how far behind he was and I would always try to be the one of the 1st appointments of the day to try to salvage my day off.

Submitted June 2, 2018

I was sent to see him a few years back when I was having worsening issues with my lung, my family doctor wasn't sure if my asthma was getting worse or if it was something else so she sent me to him because hes supposed to be one of the best pulminary doctors in the city. My first appointmet with him he was over 1 1/2 hours behind, he got a quick medical history from me and then said he wanted to send me for another pulmonary function test (my doctor had me do one a few months before I was sent to see him) and said that his fellow staff at the Rockyview hospital were the best. He also wanted me to try spending time in a smoke free environment ( I live at home and my mom smokes) and wanted me to try a few other things to try and help my breathing and told me to follow up in about a month. So I went and had the test done but was unable to do the whole thing because of my breathing issues. When I went in for my follow up appointment he was 5 1/2 hours behind which was ridiculous, his receptionist said it was because she had to drive a patient to the hospital because they refused to take an ambulance event though they really needed to. Once in for my appointment he said that the parts of the lung I was able to do were fine and that the fact that I wasn't able to do the other half was because I was purposely trying to make it look like I had issues with my lungs. He the told me that there was nothing wrong with my lungs and that I should stop acting like there was. He said I should just grow up, get a job, go to school ( I was in the process of looking for a job and had dropped out of MRU as I wanted to change career paths), stop expecting things in life to be handed to me, and stop faking things to get attention as there was absolutely nothing wrong with me and I was just wasting his time by coming to see him as he could be seeing other patients right now who don't lie and actually have health issues. After that I pretty much left his office in tears and when I told my doctor at a follow up appointment with her what had happened she couldn't believe how rude he was to me. Since my appointments with him about 6 years ago I still have not been anle to get an answer to my breathing issues and I tell everyone to avoid going to see him as he is a rude condescending man who needs to take some courses on how to properly and nicely treat patients.

Submitted March 31, 2018

He takes a fee for doing nothing at a testing centre and offering zero new medical advice but what's worse is that he appears to enjoy abusing his position, in this case by trying to extract patient information that isn't his business. He was more concerned with persistent questioning about employment, education and parents' employment and education than anything else. After much attempted manipulation and badgering that got a patient to answer one of these out of line questions he'd make a show of dominance by turning to a blank sheet of paper to write out what he just badgered the patient to say in big letters and underlining it. There is no way that behaviour is acceptable and I have to wonder what the Alberta College thinks of him. If they read some of these ratings they should be seriously alarmed about this character. Not only does he bring the entire profession and college into disrepute but the manner by which he did so with this patient made him seem like a potential sociopath. I decided never to return and, based on what I saw, my personal advice would be to stay away. The staff wasn't nearly so bad but I lowered that from 3 stars to 1 because my opinion based on experiences with him was truly alarming and the staff seems to know but chooses to be willfully blind.

Submitted March 19, 2018

I had a very good experience with Dr. VanOlm. I have seen him twice so far and will need to go back again next month. I find him to be very knowledgeable and he takes the time to thoroughly explain things. I do find appointment times can sometimes be delayed when getting into see him but it is because he does take the time to explain things to his patients and answer all of their questions. I do not see that as a fault at all - I appreciate it. The staff is also very friendly. I recommend this doctor.

Submitted Jan. 2, 2018