How Alaska Airlines Connects Rural Communities With Lifesaving Health Care
When Nichole learned she had a brain tumor, she was 450 miles and two flights away from home.
Nichole was at her regular doctor appointment in Anchorage, where she traveled twice a year from the rural community of Kongiganak via an Alaska Airlines flight from Bethel. The vertigo and muscle weakness she thought were symptoms of Meniere’s disease were actually caused by a softball-sized tumor, and Nichole’s diagnosis meant an emergency flight to Salt Lake City for three surgeries, six weeks of recovery, and multiple flights between Kongiganak and Anchorage for radiation treatments. She was terrified.
“I just didn’t realize I actually had cancer,” she said. “I had a major mental breakdown when I found out I had an oncologist.”
Every day, Alaska Airlines sees patients like Nichole coming through Bethel and other communities throughout the state on their way to receive vital health care in Anchorage, Seattle and elsewhere in the lower 48, and the airline finds ways big and small to care for those guests who need extra help along the way.
Caring service on the ground and in the air
The team in Bethel plays another vital role in the community’s health care, shepherding the time-sensitive medications shipping in through Alaska Air Cargo to the local YKHC hospital, as well as clinic patients’ lab samples shipping out. According to Carla, those lab samples must go out that day to Anchorage or Seattle because they have limited time to stay viable. Like most team members in Bethel, she works with both cargo and passengers.
Carla shared the Bethel team keeps an eye out every day for guests who need extra time or assistance — especially those guests who can’t navigate the stairs from the tarmac into the aircraft. The team has a DPL (Disabled Passenger Lift) truck that can drive guests out to the plane and lift them to reach the door, and she tries to ensure that those who need the service know about it.
A lot of times we know these people, or we’re related to them,” said Carla, who grew up in one of these communities. “We try to make people smile and make their day brighter, especially when you know that they’re going through something tough.”
After years helping thousands of patients traveling to appointments, Carla also has picked up some travel tips that she shares:
- She advises guests traveling from smaller communities to pack light, if possible, so they don’t have to take time to check baggage.
- Allow for more time than they think they need to make their connections.
“We know that they’re trying to get there for a hospital appointment that they’ve been waiting for weeks or months, so we do everything we can to help make sure they are on their flight,” she said.
The team’s caring service is valued and appreciated, said Nichole, who noted that Alaska Airlines is her first choice when she travels. “I fly with them almost exclusively because they take such good care of us,” she said. “Those are my plane people.”
Alaska Airlines story by Denise Clifton
