Mercy is now able to care for more patients in Stoddard County and surrounding areas with the addition of a new primary care physician.
Dr. Natasha Ware has joined Mercy Primary Care – Stoddard in Dexter. Dr. Ware comes from a diverse health care background, having worked in various roles including emergency room registration, switchboard operations, phlebotomy and home health, all of which provided different perspectives on caring for patients.
Dr. Ware earned an associate degree from Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff and a bachelor's in biomedical sciences from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. She then earned her medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in Sint Maarten before completing her family medicine internship and residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences – Texarkana.
“My passion for family medicine stems from recognizing the significant lack of access to quality health care and a deep desire to give back to the underserved rural community,” Dr. Ware said. “I’m looking forward to providing compassionate, patient-centered care through education and shared decision-making to enhance the quality of life in every stage of aging.”
Though she was born overseas on a military base, Dr. Ware spent most of her childhood in Southeast Missouri, graduating high school from a small town near the Castor River.
“Throughout college and medical school, I'd traveled and lived in several areas of the country only to find myself drawn back to the comforts of rural Southeast Missouri – my home,” she said.
Dr. Ware enjoys spending time with her husband, a superintendent at an area school district, and their three children, twin 17-year-oldsand a 6-year-old. They cherish their busy lives together, which are filled with sports, school commitments and outdoor activities like fishing, hunting, gardening, hiking and camping.
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Ware at Mercy Primary Care – Stoddard, call 573-624-7575. The primary care clinic is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Mercy, one of the 15 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation’s largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including 50 acute care and specialty (heart, children’s, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 1,000 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 5,000 physicians and advanced practitioners and more than 50,000 co-workers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2023 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.
