Maria Ashdown
May 2026
Maria
Ashdown
,
MSN, RN, NE-BC
Nursing Administration
TriHealth Good Samaritan Hospital
Cincinnati
,
OH
United States
Maria is here for all of the right reasons, driven by the experience of every single patient and dedicated to the career and success of every member of her team.
Maria is so much more than a leader for those of us who are so very fortunate to have her in our lives. She is our first phone call, regardless of time of day, for any given issue, personal or otherwise. She is our champion, cheerleader, and greatest advocate, and we can all rest easy knowing that what is best and what is right will always be her greatest priority.
Maria is here for all of the right reasons, driven by the experience of every single patient and dedicated to the career and success of every member of her team. She knows almost everything, and what she doesn't know, she will pick up the phone on your behalf (any leader, team member, patient). She is incredibly intelligent, can do 100 things really well all at once, hear and respond to whole conversations happening in the next room, while on a meeting, taking notes, and thinking 20 steps ahead; yet she is self-deprecating and endlessly entertaining because she doesn't understand basic humor and mispronounces words.
She is leading so many critical initiatives because it is well known that she gets the work done. She knows people, quickly identifies strengths, pushes them to potential, supports them through missteps, coaches every step, and never forgets that people have lives and families outside of it all.
500 words prove inadequate to demonstrate what she means to so many.
We rounded on a GS patient who had fallen and fractured his hip. She discovered that his son had passed away and the funeral was in 3 days, so she immediately jumped into action. She got an ambulance, a day pass from the physician, and accompanied the patient to his son's funeral (and at the funeral, she helped manage a medical emergency of an attendee).
We had an incredibly challenging case in the NSICU that was causing morale distress to the team. Maria rallied all of the executive leaders behind the nursing team, managed through the complexity against great odds, and the feedback from that team is that they have never felt more supported by a leader.
She leaves for a cruise this weekend, taking a 93-year-old Sister of Charity (that she befriended after knowing she had no family, who brings her to family holiday parties and monthly dinners), on a European cruise to see the Rock of Gibraltar, after hearing she was slated to travel there with her best friend when COVID hit, and her friend passed away. She is making her dream come true.
She drops toys off at a daycare that she drives past every day because she worries that they don't have enough. She is selfless, giving, empathetic, commanding yet kind, has set the bar as high as it goes, knowing that is what our community deserves, yet shoulders the burden on our behalf and gives her all to arm us with what we need to hit that bar.
She is the leader we work for because making her proud is all we strive to accomplish.
Maria is here for all of the right reasons, driven by the experience of every single patient and dedicated to the career and success of every member of her team. She knows almost everything, and what she doesn't know, she will pick up the phone on your behalf (any leader, team member, patient). She is incredibly intelligent, can do 100 things really well all at once, hear and respond to whole conversations happening in the next room, while on a meeting, taking notes, and thinking 20 steps ahead; yet she is self-deprecating and endlessly entertaining because she doesn't understand basic humor and mispronounces words.
She is leading so many critical initiatives because it is well known that she gets the work done. She knows people, quickly identifies strengths, pushes them to potential, supports them through missteps, coaches every step, and never forgets that people have lives and families outside of it all.
500 words prove inadequate to demonstrate what she means to so many.
We rounded on a GS patient who had fallen and fractured his hip. She discovered that his son had passed away and the funeral was in 3 days, so she immediately jumped into action. She got an ambulance, a day pass from the physician, and accompanied the patient to his son's funeral (and at the funeral, she helped manage a medical emergency of an attendee).
We had an incredibly challenging case in the NSICU that was causing morale distress to the team. Maria rallied all of the executive leaders behind the nursing team, managed through the complexity against great odds, and the feedback from that team is that they have never felt more supported by a leader.
She leaves for a cruise this weekend, taking a 93-year-old Sister of Charity (that she befriended after knowing she had no family, who brings her to family holiday parties and monthly dinners), on a European cruise to see the Rock of Gibraltar, after hearing she was slated to travel there with her best friend when COVID hit, and her friend passed away. She is making her dream come true.
She drops toys off at a daycare that she drives past every day because she worries that they don't have enough. She is selfless, giving, empathetic, commanding yet kind, has set the bar as high as it goes, knowing that is what our community deserves, yet shoulders the burden on our behalf and gives her all to arm us with what we need to hit that bar.
She is the leader we work for because making her proud is all we strive to accomplish.