Report on activity and sustainable development 2020

How did you handle the initial impacts the Covid-19 crisis?

At the beginning of 2020, Paris-Orly began to receive passengers from infected regions, and particularly from Italy where the virus was then circulating very actively. One of the priorities for our emergency medical service was also to set up a secure care pathway for those diagnosed with Covid by defining an intervention protocol to protect staff and other passengers when one or more passengers on the flight tested positive. We were already aware of the risks posed by an epidemic, having previously had to cope with Ebola.

You also responded to this extraordinary situation with unprecedented initiatives such as patient transfer...

A fortnight before the start of the first lockdown, Paris-Orly had already imposed its own curfew. The number of hospitalisations in the wider Paris region was high, and we suggested to the French public health authority, the SAMU 94 emergency medical service, the Regional Health Agency, the Air Force and the Paris emergency services that we should set up a medical evacuation centre.In the event, our departmental crisis unit transferred 106 patients to regional hospitals over a period of four days at the height of the crisis. These emergency flights carrying patients on respiratory support systems at a time of global pandemic were absolutely unprecedented, and proved very successful, thanks to the committed involvement of everyone concerned. Given that the airport was closed to commercial flights, we were also looking for ways in which we could contribute to the Covid war effort with the resources at our disposal. Between April and June 2020, we offered our medical services to local authorities around the airport, because many local residents were simply unable to get GP appointments or access emergency services at that time.

So what has happened since commercial flights resumed at Orly?

Well, we’ve returned to our core medical duties, although we are continuing to deal with health safety issues, such as screening tests, health certificates and vaccinations, which the airport emergency medical service has been permitted to administer since 25 March 2021. It’s true to say that we’ve learned a lot from this crisis, which has highlighted border health security as a major issue. The most positive outcome is that it has given us the opportunity to uprate and modernise the way we do things.