Paris 2024 Olympics: American rugby player Ariana Ramsey savors "free care" at the Olympic village
“I literally just got a pap smear for free.” Ariana Ramsey is jubilant as she films herself on the TikTok social networkThe American rugby sevens player, bronze medalist, took advantage of the health center in the Olympic village, intended for athletes, on Saturday August 3. “Not only do we have free food in the Olympic Village, but we have free dental care, free health care.”she assures.
The athlete went to the dentist on Sunday, as she showed, still on TikTokand scheduled an eye exam. She came away convinced to fight again: “free medical care in the United States.” Across the Atlantic, about 26 million people remain without health coverage and each American spends more than $12,500 a year on health care expenses, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
She is not the only one among the 10,500 athletes living in the Olympic Village to benefit from it. “All treatments are free at the Olympics, so I made an appointment for a massage”assured Saturday, on the chinese social networkLiberian sprinter Ebony Morrison. The 110m hurdles specialist took the opportunity to have a full health check-up, then to visit a chiropractor, then an orthopedist.
Funded by the Olympic Games organizing committee, but co-managed by the Assistance publique hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), the polyclinic is installed on 3,500 square meters of a school of physiotherapy, osteopathy and podiatry. No operating theaters, nor full hospitalization beds, but a “multidisciplinary health center” intended to provide first aid to athletes and members of the team during the events “Olympic family”.
Paris 2024 wanted “to offer the best service as close as possible, to allow them to live their dream”explained to AFP Dr. Philippe Le Van, head physician of Paris 2024. This polyclinic can receive up to nearly 700 patients per day, according to a press release from the National Federation of Health Centers.
