Model Behavior: Natalie Clements

If you ask Natalie Clements why her colleagues at Siloam Health nominated her for Model Behavior, she’ll say it might have something to do with the time she performed lifesaving CPR on a guest in cardiac arrest at a Siloam luncheon. Sure, that will draw attention. But Natalie, a registered nurse with an uncommon heart for service, has been quietly earning the admiration of the Siloam community as a volunteer for 25 years. 

An only child from Bismarck, North Dakota, Natalie moved with her family to San Antonio when she was 5 years old, and started school among many classmates who spoke Spanish as a first language. The experience of being around so many students speaking a language she didn’t yet understand made her sympathetic to what it must be like for people who aren’t fluent English speakers to navigate our health care system.

After working as a nurse in cardio-thoracic surgical telemetry in Dallas, where she often served as an advocate and translator for Spanish-speaking patients, Natalie moved to her husband George’s hometown Nashville in 1999. She wanted to continue to use her language skills to serve patients, and a friend suggested Siloam Health. 

For 30 years, Siloam has provided health care to Nashville’s uninsured, underserved and culturally marginalized populations, who come from more than 80 homelands and speak more than 50 languages. In 2023, the nonprofit served more than 6,600 patients through two clinics, in Melrose and Antioch.

Natalie has brought her language and nursing skills and her compassion to every area of the organization, serving as translator, lab technician and nurse — in refugee clinics and in neighborhood outreach. She currently serves on the committee for Siloam’s biggest fundraiser, Amplify Nashville. “The world truly comes to Siloam, right here in our own backyard,” Natalie says. “We don’t have to travel very far to find people who are very much different and yet very much the same as we are.”

Dress: Nicole Miller

Earrings: Nicole Amato x WanderLust Girls

Ring: Nicole Amato x WanderLust Girls

Shoes: Model’s own