Air carrier Captain reported having an inoperative APU and requested that the destination ramp crew be advised of their situation; this information was not received by the ramp personnel resulting in a unsafe ramp situation.

Narrative

Our aircraft had its APU INOP. For that reason; we required extra coordination at ZZZ for them to connect ground power and air ASAP upon our arrival. As a result from Dispatch not communicating to Operations in ZZZ about our aircraft having our APU INOP; it caused delay and confusion for the ground crew while parking at ZZZ. This delay almost cost the life of a ramper; since she inadvertently approached the aircraft on the side the engine was running to chock the wheels. Because I opened the window to communicate with the ramp personnel to connect power so we could shut engine number 1 off; I noticed the aforementioned ramper approaching the aircraft. I was able to wave my hands and scream at her and she finally noticed me and stopped and returned to the safe zone in the ramp. Once power was connected we secured the engine. I questioned ZZZ Operations if they knew about our APU INOP; and the operations person said he was not aware of this. However; the Dispatch released stated 'ZZZ OPS CAN GROUND HANDLE APU INOP'. More over; we tried to contact ZZZ OPs after landing to verify they knew about our APU INOP; but no one answered our radio calls; so we continued on the presumption that Dispatch had communicated this to them as per our flight plan message.