What to Expect the Day of your Procedure

You will be asked to arrive 30 minutes prior to your procedure’s scheduled start time. We ask that your ride stay in the car. If you feel that you will be unable to come inside on your own, special accommodations can be made. Please bring your cell phone with you. You are required to wear a mask upon entering the building. If you do not have a mask, please help yourself to one from our kiosk located in the lobby. You will take the elevator to the fourth floor where you will be admitted to the endoscopy center. You will meet your admitting nurse and your doctor. Please have the phone number of your ride available to provide us. We encourage you to ask your ride to add our phone number into their phone 207-773-7964 and title as Portland Gastroenterology. Your doctor will ask you to sign a consent form with a single-use pen before going into the procedure room. After your procedure, you will recover and then speak with your doctor prior to leaving. If you wish, your doctor can call your ride on speakerphone to go over results with both of you at the same time. Your ride will be called 15-20 minutes before you are ready to be discharged. You will then be escorted downstairs by one of our staff members to meet your ride. If you feel as though your ride needs to come inside, this can be discussed prior to your procedure.

Note: If a driver needs to use a restroom while waiting, they can come inside to the 4th floor and will request at the registration desk. They will be asked a series of questions and are required to wear a mask at all times.

With these protective measures in place and the overall low prevalence of COVID-19 infection in the state of Maine, we have elected not to pursue pre-procedure COVID-19 testing. Some healthcare systems, such as MaineHealth, have taken a different approach to this issue and require pre-procedure testing and subsequent quarantine until the day of the procedure. This means that if you are having a procedure done at Maine Medical Center, you are required to have COVID-19 testing prior to your test or it will be cancelled.

If you have any questions, please call our office at (207) 773-7964.