SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — At the height of COVID, breast cancer screenings were put on hold, but health care providers are now saying some keep delaying their yearly mammograms. 

For the first time, Lisa Saunders is doing something getting ready to get a screening for breast cancer. 

"(I'm feeling) a little nervous. I’ve heard the stories," said Saunders. 

She's getting her mammogram on a bus. 

“I just turned 40 and I know that the guidelines are to start at 40 so you can get a baseline and just detect breast cancer early,” said Saunders. 

The problem is not enough women are getting screened, according to health professionals. Mammographers said COVID stopped screenings temporarily a year ago, but women kept putting it off even longer. 

“Unfortunately, with delaying their screening mammograms, we’re finding cancers that have been developing over that length of time that could’ve been caught earlier,” said Mammographer Sarah Conley. 

It’s the reason Conley has been driving around Mercy Health’s mammogram bus. She's been going to the most vulnerable neighborhoods to help women get screened.

At the same time, Tracey Hanlin has been passing out freebies and fliers to get women on the bus.

“There is a very specific reason why I do this. I’m a breast cancer survivor,” said Hanlin.

She said what’s inside that bus, the mammogram unit, got her through to the other side of breast cancer. 

“No one knows until they’ve experienced it themselves, what it feels like to hear the words ‘you have breast cancer.' Your life instantly changed going forward," said Hanlin, "but if you’re like me and you had routine mammograms and you caught your breast cancer early, your chance of recovery is phenomenal."

That’s why Saunders isn’t taking any chances, and for her first time, she said it’s all worth it.

“It’s not that bad ladies. We can do this,” said Saunders.