Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2022 Women of Distinction honorees daily July 5 through Aug. 10. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.

Being a single mother and working in healthcare are two difficult, yet rewarding, hats to wear. Isha Mathis, director of nursing at Greenspring in Springfield, VA, dons them both — to great effect.

“Isha is a single mother whose dedication and commitment to her daughter is tremendous,” said Assistant Director of Nursing at Erickson Senior Living Greenspring Mohamed Jalloh. “The challenges of being a single mother and being in a leadership role never stopped her from achieving her goals.”

These goals included obtaining her BSN and MBA degrees, which she achieved in recent years. 

Mathis’s hard work and knowledge became invaluable when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In this moment of crisis, the staff looked to her for guidance.

“Isha’s knowledge of the infectious disease process and her commitment to continual learning were instrumental in guiding us through the several challenges that we faced during the COVID 19 pandemic,” Jalloh said. 

Mathis’s career in healthcare began in 1994 when she started work as an licensed practical nurse at Beverly Healthcare Center in Washington, DC. After becoming an RN in 1997, she has worked in multiple different roles, including as a floor nurse, nursing supervisor and nursing assistant. In 2010, she transitioned to Riderwood Village in Silver Spring, MD. Here, she was the assisted living manager, and then later, the assisted director of nursing.

In 2019, she assumed her current position at Greenspring and has guided the retirement community through the storm of the pandemic with aplomb.

“Isha’s persistence, perseverance and collaborative efforts in collaboration with our corporate leaders saw us through [the pandemic] with depleted staff,” Jalloh said.

As a single father of three, Jalloh said he has faced many difficulties balancing his personal and professional lives. Mathis supported him as he obtained his MSN, he said.

“Without her insistence and support I would have given up and dropped out,” Jalloh said.

The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care. The program’s Diamond sponsor is PointClickCare. Silver sponsors include OnShift and PharMerica, and the Bronze sponsor is Reliant Rehabilitation. Table sponsors included Dreamscape, Gojo/Purell and Sound Physicians.

Visit these web pages to see lists of the 2022 honorees: Rising Stars, Veteran VIPs, Hall of Honor, Lifetime Achievement Award and Spirit Awards.