Growing up on a farm in rural Kewanee, about 25 minutes from the community of Sheffield where she currently provides care, Natalie Ince knows the importance of having access to critical health care and resources.

"I have always loved the feeling of a small community and the dependence on one another," Natalie said.

She decided to enter the health care field after losing her 16-year-old older sister to cancer.

"During her time of illness... I recall watching and admiring the care given to her by nurses, nurse assistants, physicians and all other health care providers during her time there," Natalie said. "Since then, I always knew I wanted to be a nurse, and then later that dream transformed into wanting to become a nurse practitioner."

As an undergraduate at Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing, Natalie was introduced to OSF HealthCare through another sister who had begun working in the pediatric intensive care unit at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

Natalie chose family medicine because during her adolescence and young adulthood she always went to the same provider – the family nurse practitioner.

"We developed a rapport, a sense of trust and a bond in our patient-provider friendship," she said.

Today, Natalie's approach to providing care is patient-centered.

"When a patient makes an appointment with me, my time is devoted to that one person and their health care concern(s)."

When she isn't working, Natalie enjoys spending time with her husband, Dayton, and daughter, Abigail Jo. Natalie enjoys traveling, staying active, watching sports, listening to live music, playing trivia and being with friends.