A Letter from Dr. Jamie Olesen

Dear Reader,

I’m very excited to welcome you here and to introduce both myself and what my team at Hemingway Modern Medical (hmm) can offer you.

I grew up in Sherwood Park and completed my medical training and residency at the University of Alberta. I have been a licensed Family Medicine specialist for more than a decade.

Alongside building my clinic, I spent nearly ten years working at the University of Alberta Hospital as a surgical hospitalist in orthopedics, caring for patients recovering from major surgery and complex medical conditions.

That experience changed how I see medicine.

Working in the hospital, I witnessed tremendous suffering — often at the later stages of illness, when medicine shifts from preserving vitality to managing decline. Those years reinforced something that has since become central to my mission: helping people maintain their health span, strength, and independence for as long as possible, ideally preventing them from needing to enter the hospital system in the first place.

Over the years I have worn many different “doctor hats,” but the purpose behind them has always remained the same:

to help people feel better and live better.

My work eventually evolved beyond the traditional boundaries of medicine and into what became Hemingway Medical Spa. While the word spa was convenient at the time, it never truly captured what we were building. Our clinic has always been a physician-led, patient-centered environment focused on advanced medical technologies, thoughtful care, and a comfortable, welcoming experience.

That is part of why we evolved into hmm.

The name represents a moment of curiosity. The quiet pause when you encounter an idea that makes you stop and think:

“Hmm… tell me more about that.”

Because that is exactly what I love sharing with patients: the remarkable ways modern medical technology can harness electromagnetic energy and other advanced therapies to help the body heal, strengthen, and restore itself.

My training is firmly grounded in traditional evidence-based medicine, but we are also living in an extraordinary moment in healthcare. Social media is full of conversations about peptides, supplements, and emerging therapies; some are promising, while others, questionable. It is an exciting and sometimes chaotic time to be practicing medicine.

I often think about a line from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, when Angelica sings about living in “the greatest city in the world, in the greatest time in the world.”

In many ways, aspects of ‘new’ and ‘modern’ medicine feels like that right now.

For a long time I focused primarily on providing aesthetic medicine, and while these treatments helped relieve the distress from an aging appearance, it was not enough when I knew I could do so much more. 

And today, we can go much further.

Using advanced Health Canada–approved medical technologies, we help patients improve bladder control, build muscle, strengthen the core, rejuvenate skin, and support mental wellness in ways that are effective, comfortable, and non-invasive.

And unlike many traditional therapies, these treatments are not designed to make you dependent on weekly visits forever. The goal is to get you back on track! By helping the body regain strength, resilience, and function, you will eventually not need us at all. 

If you asked me what we truly specialize in, I would say this:

Helping people reach a cruising altitude they never thought possible, especially when life has them grounded.

Through thoughtful consultation and honest conversation we help patients design a roadmap toward feeling stronger, healthier, and more capable.

Our goal is to help you see that take-off is possible and provide solutions to get you there a little faster. 

Because time, after all, is precious.

—
Dr. Jamie Olesen