Mercy Health radiologic tech doubles as driver for mobile mammography unit

FAIRBORN, Ohio (WDTN) — One in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. According to medical experts at Mercy Health, when it’s found early and treated properly, the survival rate is 99 percent.

Sarah Conley is a radiologic technologist for Mercy Health. “I have found a place where I feel like I’m serving and helping others,” she said.

With a commercial driver’s license, she serves as the driver and mammography for the hospital’s mobile unit. While Conley has been screening women for breast cancer for about five years, she said early on in her career it became personal.

“It helped save my mom’s life. Amazingly enough right after I became a ‘mammographer,’ I talked my mom into doing a mammogram. And so she agreed, and they found something small and they were able to take it out and have her life saved,” said Conley.

Now, she drives and operates the mobile unit at the Dayton-Springfield Emergency Center in Fairborn.

“We travel through Clark and Champaign counties to underserved communities, and underserved women who might not otherwise have a mammogram,” said Tracey Hanlin, the mobile mammography coordinator for Mercy Health.

Hanlin is a breast cancer survivor herself. “I know first-hand that early detection is key,” Hanslin said. “I did not have any family history of cancer, which is true for about 85 percent of women. No family history.”

Conley said, “Finding it early is key. It [a mammogram] does save lives and that’s why I’m here.”

The Mercy Health mobile mammography unit is at the Dayton-Springfield Emergency Center every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. To schedule a 3D or 2D mammogram call 937-328-8100.