Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games: ARS Île-de-France mobilizes and organizes

206 delegations, 15,000 athletes, more than 800 events in total, around 10 million spectators expected… The Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) which will take place from July 26 to August 11 and from August 28 to September 8 represent the largest event never organized in our country, especially in our region, which alone concentrates 90% of the competition sites. With this in mind, the Île-de-France Regional Health Agency is mobilizing to carry out the missions assigned to it, under the aegis of the Interministerial Delegation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (DIJOP) and the Ministry of Health.

“Of course we don’t go it alone! Preparing for the Games is a project of such scale that it requires the orchestrated and concerted involvement of multiple stakeholders, indicates Nathalie Nguyen, Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games project manager at the Healthcare Services Department. It is in fact a real collective adventure in which the ARS is engaged. »

Collective and coordinated preparation

Thus, several Agency employees actively participate in the working groups led by the Ministry of Health with a view to the Games – on health risks, surveillance systems, continuity of care provision, etc. A collective organization which is also deploys at the intra-regional level with the departmental delegations and professional directorates of the ARS, the partners of the city and the hospital “in order to coordinate the application of ministerial directives in the territories while centralizing the field feedback from the actors premises,” adds Jéromine Lemaire, cyber crisis management and JOP 2024 preparation project manager within the Health Monitoring and Security department.

Organize and guarantee care for all

For Paris 2024, the primary mission of the ARS is to organize and guarantee care for everyone, Ile-de-France residents, visitors, tourists and athletes alike. Concretely, this means firstly ensuring continuity of care at the hospital but also specifically strengthening health establishments, identified by the ARS because of their proximity to the competition sites (focus link 1).
“For these establishments, the idea is to “strengthen without over-mobilizing,” explains Nathalie Nguyen. We are essentially asking to anticipate the management of summer schedules and to have a capacity in terms of human resources and beds slightly higher than a standard summer.”
The state of mind is the same for community care with, for example, a planned increase in the reception capacities of medical homes on call for evenings and weekends, with the aim of allowing everyone to access care and avoid saturation of health establishments. “The ARS communications department will play an important role in disseminating practical information to the general public on access to care in our region during the Games,” underlines Nathalie Nguyen.

Strengthening pre-hospital resources

Another key aspect of the ARS’s action in the context of the JOPs concerns pre-hospital resources. “On this level, the challenge is twofold since it is a question of both consolidating and strengthening the operational capacities of the SAMU/SMUR means, but also of pre-positioning the tactical means essential to deal with certain types of exceptional health situations which require specific equipment for the care of victims, explains Jéromine Lemaire. This requires close collaboration with those on the ground and the police headquarters to anticipate mobility issues during periods when traffic will be severely constrained. »

Mobilization at all levels

Beyond the question of access to care, preparation for this major event also involves anticipation and strengthening of monitoring and prevention systems for health risks (quality of bathing water, fight against mosquito vectors of diseases, surveillance of transmissible infectious diseases), anticipation of cyber risks (focus link 2), support for precarious populations (homeless, migrants, etc.)

Finally, we must mention the preparation of the “Legacy” of the Games, particularly in terms of adapted physical and sporting practices and the fight against a sedentary lifestyle. So many subjects which will be the subject of more detailed presentations in future issues of the ARS Letter!

What cybersecurity at the time of the JOPs?

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are arousing enthusiasm around the world, but with this great sporting celebration also emerges a growing and omnipresent threat: cyber risks. The players in the Ile-de-France health system are a target of choice and Île-de-France is not spared, as shown by several major attacks recorded in 2022, in particular those suffered by the Center Hospitalier Sud Francilien and the Versailles Hospital Center. Faced with this situation, the Directorate of Innovation, Research and Digital Transformation (DIRNOV) and the Defense and Security department of the Health Monitoring and Security Directorate of the ARS are joining forces to prevent the risks of on the one hand, and manage possible incidents on the other hand. “And the stakes are high to the extent that a cyberattack can have an immediate health impact and seriously disrupt healthcare provision,” notes Jéromine Lemaire, cyber crisis management and JOP 2024 preparation project manager within the Defense department. and Security of the Health Monitoring and Safety Department.

A plan to strengthen cybersecurity in accelerated mode

Since 2021, ARS Île-de-France has been deploying on its territory the plan to strengthen cybersecurity launched by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with Sesan, the regional group to support the development of e-Health (GRADeS) of Île-de-France. “And this, by involving the IT teams of the establishments, of course, but also the management and the user healthcare teams who all have a role to play in terms of cybersecurity”, specifies Christian Lemaire, digital and cybersecurity mission manager at the DIRNOV. In preparation for the Games, this plan is the subject of an acceleration campaign focused on establishments deemed to be priorities. “In total, 71 establishments have been specifically mobilized since last summer with the objective of carrying out, in a limited time, cybersecurity audits of different types every 2 months, a cyber crisis management exercise, accompanied by for everyone with an action plan, and an update of their Business Continuity Plan in a context of cyber crisis. For the moment, the schedules are progressing at the expected pace,” indicates Christian Lemaire in conclusion.

“For the CHSD, the major issue will be accessibility”

3 questions to Jean Pinson, director of the Saint-Denis Hospital Center

What is the place of the Saint-Denis CH in the JOP ecosystem?

The Saint-Denis Hospital Center (CHSD) is made up of two sites: Delafontaine (medicine, surgery, obstetrics activities) and Casanova (mainly geriatrics and rehabilitation). They are both at the heart of the nerve triangle of the Olympic and Paralympic Games bounded to the South by the Stade de France and the Olympic Swimming Pool, to the West by the Athletes’ Village and to the East by the La Courneuve Fan Zone. The Saint-Denis CH is therefore naturally one of the Ile-de-France establishments identified by the ARS as front-line establishments for the JOP. As such, we will have to maintain sufficient levels of activity over this period, and higher than they normally are in the summer in certain sectors, such as emergencies, emergency surgery and critical care… Furthermore , a project for an advanced emergency post on the Casanova site located in the immediate vicinity of the Stade de France is in discussion with the ARS in order to offer a front-line health response (reception, light care, reorientation).

What are the main issues facing the Saint-Denis CH and what organization are you putting in place?

The major challenge for the Saint-Denis CH will be that of its accessibility, for patients and their entourage but also for our own teams, due to traffic restrictions on the access roads and the predictable congestion of transport in common. On this point, innovative solutions (for example a Vélib’ terminal inside the hospital) are being considered. In addition, some of our activities located within the perimeter or in the immediate vicinity will have to be temporarily relocated or adapted. This is particularly the case for the child psychiatry day hospital and the addiction care, support and prevention center. To be able to coordinate all subjects related to the JOPs, we have set up an internal steering committee comprising management, the head of the emergency department, as well as staff representatives. A link with user representatives is also ensured.

How do you work with the ARS to prepare for the JOPs?

In all these approaches, relations are fully collaborative between the hospital and the ARS, whether at the level of the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental delegation or with the headquarters teams, at all stages. This work has been structured for more than a year now and even if there are still some areas of arbitration, the discussions have allowed a good mutual understanding as well as a sharing of issues and solutions.