Category: The Hill
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Husband of woman failed by Canadian health care system thanks Glenn Beck for intervening: ‘You’ve opened up a lot of doors’
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck and his team, now working in conjunction with elements of the Trump administration, are in the process of rescuing a Canadian woman failed by her country’s socialist health care system and led into thinking the only remedy for her painful living-nightmare might be state-facilitated suicide.
The day after Canadian state media did its apparent best to frame the American intervention as “political posturing” and a “distraction from the real issues,” the Saskatchewan woman’s husband expressed his profound gratitude to Beck for his efforts to help Jolene Van Alstine.
‘If it was me, I think I would have had a gun to my head long ago.’
Miles Sundeen, speaking on Thursday to Beck in what became a tear-filled episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” said at the outset, “First of all, I just wanted to say thank you so much. Apparently you’re a very popular guy. You’ve opened up a lot of doors.”
“It’s been a long and very arduous journey. It’s been over eight years now that Jolene has been very ill. We’ve gone through very tough times trying to get help through our health care system; long, long wait times both to see specialists, to get a diagnosis initially, and then, of course, to wait times for surgeries as well,” said Sundeen. “The problem is, of course, as this disease continues to devastate her body, it becomes worse and worse as time goes on.”
Van Alstine has a rare parathyroid disease called normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism, which causes nausea and vomiting and draws calcium from the bones into the blood, resulting in extreme bone pain, weakened bone density, and fractures. According to Sundeen, Van Alstine’s immobilization by the disease has also resulted in other conditions, namely diverticulitis and osteoporosis, not to mention “mental damage.”
While she has undergone multiple surgeries in hopes of addressing the disease, she still requires a specialized procedure to remove her overactive parathyroid gland.
The trouble is that there is presently no surgeon in her province able to perform the operation. While she could potentially receive the surgery elsewhere in Canada, Van Alstine has indicated that she must first obtain a referral but cannot secure one as none of the endocrinologists in her region are accepting new patients.
L: Alla Gnidenko/Getty Images; R: Blaze Media
Sundeen suggested that the endocrinologists and specialists aren’t necessarily to blame, noting that the Canadian health care system is “just absolutely overwhelmed.”
While Sundeen suggested that mismanagement is the system’s top problem, he noted that the system has also been “completely devastated” by underfunding and the huge influx of immigrants into the country.
According to the 2021 census, 23% of people living in Canada were foreign-born and 2.5% — over 924,000 — were nonpermanent residents. A government report released on Nov. 26 indicated that the 2021 census actually missed 38% of nonpermanent residents in that count. The top three national origins of the immigrants flooding into Canada under the Trudeau Liberal regime were India, Philippines, and China. Pakistan and Iran also made the top-10 list of national origins.
The sudden surge in demand on citizen resources helped strain a system that was already set for a reckoning with a graying population.
The apparent failure of the health care system is especially frustrating for Sundeen, who told Beck that “with this surgery, the parathyroid symptoms will disappear.”
“She can get back to an almost-normal life as far as the parathyroid hormone goes,” added Sundeen.
‘We’ll get it done.’
After years of pain and little evidence that her nation’s strained health care system will get around to helping her, Van Alstine started the process of joining the tens of thousands of other Canadians who’ll be killed under the government’s Medical Assistance in Dying euthanasia program, which has in recent years become one of the top five causes of death in Canada.
George Carson, a MAID approval doctor, confirmed this week that he assessed Van Alstine and provided her with his approval.
Sundeen stressed to Beck, however, that “she wants to live.”
“But when your life is absolutely stolen from you — stolen from you for eight years, and you suffer so much pain, depression, and anxiety — I love her with all my heart,” said Sundeen.
“She’s a strong girl. If it was me, I think I would have had a gun to my head long ago.”
Beck emphasized to Sundeen that neither he nor his wife was alone.
“We’ll find a way to make this happen if it is at all possible. We pray for you. There are millions of people who are praying for you now, and we’ll do everything we can,” added Beck.
Beck indicated that he has been in contact with elements of the Trump administration, and there appears to be some movement on getting Van Alstine help in America.
He noted that a “very high-level administrative official just called and said, ‘Let’s save her life. We’ll get it done.'”
Beck has personally volunteered to fly her down, put her up, and set her up to meet some doctors.
Visibly moved by his conversation with Sundeen and fighting back tears, Beck noted that he hopes to be able to call him back with some “good news.”
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Glenn Beck works to save pain-racked Canadian woman left at euthanasia dead end by broken socialist health care system
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck and his team are desperately trying to save a woman in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan who has been failed by her country’s socialist health care system.
Jolene Van Alstine of Regina has for eight years suffered from a rare parathyroid disease called normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism, which causes nausea and vomiting and draws calcium from the bones into the blood, resulting in extreme bone pain, weakened bone density, and fractures.
‘I’ve been alone lying on the couch for eight years, sick and curled up in a ball, pushing for the day to end.’
Van Alstine has undergone three surgeries but still requires a specialized procedure to remove her overactive parathyroid gland.
The problem, according to Canadian state media, is that there is presently no surgeon in the province able to perform the operation. While there are apparently capable and available surgeons elsewhere in Canada, Van Alstine has indicated that she must first obtain a referral — and cannot secure one, as none of the endocrinologists in her region are accepting new patients.
Until this week, Van Alstine was running short on hope.
“My friends have stopped visiting me. I’m isolated. I’ve been alone lying on the couch for eight years, sick and curled up in a ball, pushing for the day to end,” she told state media.
Glenn Beck noted Wednesday on his show, “She’s riddled with pain. Yesterday, we found out that she was in the ER because she’s having all kinds of complications because of this. And she can’t take it any more.”
“This one is so grotesque,” continued Beck, “because the state would rather have her die.”
‘We expect to see more than 16,500 “medical assistance in dying” or euthanasia deaths.’
The prospect that her treatable disease might go untreated prompted Van Alstine to contemplate state-facilitated suicide, which is euphemistically referred to in Canada as Medial Assistance in Dying.
RELATED: ‘Pro-death legislators’ want euthanasia in Illinois — Canada reveals why that’s a terrible idea
Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU/AFP via Getty Images
“I understand how long and how much she’s suffered, and it’s horrific, the physical suffering, but it’s also the mental anguish,” Miles Sundeen, Van Alstine’s partner, said late last month. “No hope — no hope for the future, no hope for any relief. I don’t want her to do it, but I understand where she’s at.”
George Carson, a MAID approval doctor, indicated this week that he assessed Van Alstine and provided her with his approval. Since she has apparently also received approval from a nurse practitioner, she now requires only one more approval in order to secure a spot among the tens of thousands of Canadians who will be snuffed out in the new year by their socialist health care system, which was originally founded by the eugenicist Tommy Douglas.
MAID is among the top five leading causes of death in Canada and accounted for 4.7% of all deaths in the country in 2023.
Rebecca Vachon, health program director at the Canadian think tank Cardus, recently told Blaze News that “based on current reporting from the most populous provinces, we expect to see more than 16,500 ‘medical assistance in dying’ or euthanasia deaths in 2024, which is an increase from the 15,343 deaths reported in 2023. This will likely result in MAID deaths constituting 5% of total deaths in Canada that year.”
MAID — which Canada’s Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer boasted in October 2020 would, with expanded access, “result in a net reduction in health care costs for the provincial governments” — appears to be fast becoming a relief valve for a health care system that has come under great strain in part because of an aging population but largely because of the immigration-driven population gains overseen by the Trudeau Liberals.
‘Imagine saving a woman’s life for Christmas.’
Average annual immigration from 2000 to 2015 was 617,800. Under the Trudeau Liberals, average annual immigration was 1.4 million from 2016 to 2024.
As of April 1, 2025, Canada had an estimated population of just over 41.5 million people. According to the 2021 census, over 8.3 million people — 23% of the total population — “were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada.” This, however, appears to be a gross undercount.
A new government report revealed that 38% of non-permanent residents — roughly another 576,000 — were potentially “missed” by the 2021 census.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were 2.41 physicians per 1,000 people. The United States, by comparison, reportedly has at least 3.6 doctors per 1,000. An estimated 5.9 million Canadians — around 14% — don’t have regular access to a primary care provider.
“This is your socialized health care, gang,” Beck said on Wednesday of Van Alstine’s case.
“This is the reality of compassionate, progressive health care. Canada has to end this insanity. And Americans must never let it spread here.”
After Van Alstine’s last-ditch plea for help to Canadian lawmakers and officials failed to immediately produce the desired results, an American got involved.
“If there is any surgeon in America who can do this, I’ll pay for this patient to come down here for treatment,” Beck wrote Tuesday on X.
RELATED: JD Vance to Canada: Stop blaming Trump for your decline
Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Beck revealed in a series of announcements first, that multiple surgeons reached out with an interest in helping; second, that his team made contact with Van Alstine and Sundeen; and third, that his team had connected with the U.S. State Department after discovering that Van Alstine lacked a passport to gain legal entry into the United States.
“I’ll fly her down. I’ll put her up. I’ll get her the doctors,” Beck said on his show. “We need to get her the surgery.”
“Imagine saving a woman’s life for Christmas,” added Beck.
“Is there anything better that we could do?”
Sundeen told Canadian state media after Beck’s team spoke with him, “For us to have it done in the States would be financially impossible otherwise.”
An Ipsos poll conducted last year for Global News found that 42% of Canadians would travel to the U.S. and personally pay for more routine health care if needed — up 10 percentage points over the previous year — and 38% would travel to the U.S. and pay out of pocket for emergency care — up 9 points over the previous year.
Sean Simpson, vice president of Ipsos Public Affairs, noted, “I think the increase is happening because of the increasing level of frustration that Canadians have in the health care system.”
“It’s not the quality of care that people are upset about; it is the timely access to care, meaning wait times in emergency rooms, wait times to see specialists, to get appointments, for screening,” continued Simpson. “As a result, we have a significant chunk of the population say if they can get that service elsewhere, such as the United States, they may consider doing so.”
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