LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ Sick patients traveling to Little Rock for medical treatment at Arkansas hospitals will now receive assistance under a new program announced at the Little Rock National Airport.
The Airport Special Assistance Program will send a volunteer and airport employee to the patient's gate to provide language translation and assistance with baggage and transportation to hotels and hospitals.
''It's nice when you arrive someplace and you don't know what to expect, to have someone meet you and walk you through,'' said Janet Aronson, spokeswoman for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Myeloma Institute. The world-renowned center attracts 700 new patients each year, 70 percent of whom are from out of state, Aronson said.
One of those patients, Angelina Karathanasi of Greece, was scheduled to leave Little Rock after one month of treatment. It was her third trip to Arkansas to treat her myeloma and she said having the airport service would make travel easier for her family.
''If you are not in good shape, you can have someone help you with baggages,'' Karathanasi said. ''When I arrived for the first time, I didn't know where to go, didn't know the transportation. It was night. It will be more easier for them to go back home.''
Carl Johnson, director of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission, said that the idea to start the service began the week the Clinton Library opened, when many travelers came to Little Rock needing special assistance.
The services started Thursday and currently include patients at UAMS and Arkansas Children's Hospital, but Johnson said the airport would include any hospital in Arkansas with patients who need help.
Carol Maxwell, who directs social work at Arkansas Children's Hospital, said the service will lighten the load on her staff.
''Every once in a while we've had one of our security guards come to pick up patients,'' Maxwell said. ''A lot of patients, through a translator, we would tell them to get a cab.''
Maxwell said the hospital would make sure that patients are aware of the service. The service is available from 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every day; each family also receives a package of information about Little Rock including maps and tourist brochures.
