Martha Crowley Zebrowski Of Bridgehampton Dies April 6

Martha Crowley Zebrowski of Bridgehampton died in Woodbury on April 6, with her family present. She was 88.

Born on July 24, 1927, to Elizabeth and Cornelius Crowley, she grew up in Yonkers, where she attended local schools and graduated from Charles E. Gorton High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree and a nursing degree from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, School of Nursing. She received her master’s degree in public health nursing from Columbia University Teachers College. She later attended the Fordham School of Social Work.

Mrs. Zebrowski served eight years as a public health staff and supervisory nurse in the Yonkers Health Department. She also served for 10 years as the weekend night supervisor at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Yonkers and was on the teaching staff at the hospital’s practical nurse training school.

In 1957, she became the first public health nurse coordinator of Home Care Inc., a three-year pilot project for private physicians in the Westchester Sound area of Portchester, Rye, Mamaroneck and Larchmont. This program was financed by the New York State Health Department under the auspices of the Westchester Community Council. It later successfully developed into the current home care program based at United Hospital in Portchester.

As a pioneer and recognized expert in the new concept of home care, she participated in a conference in Roanoke, Virginia, along with 19 other experts, to establish guidelines for home care in the United States. She also participated as an expert in the first Blue Cross and Blue Shield Conference on Home Care in 1960 at the Medical Society in Chicago.

In 1960, she married Edward P. Zebrowski, a farmer of Bridgehampton, and became immersed in helping with the farm and raising four children.

Mrs. Zebrowski returned to the home health care field in 1970 to establish a satellite office at Southampton Hospital for the Huntington-based Visiting Homemaker Service Agency, where she trained more than 300 certified home health aides to care for home-bound patients. During this time, she was instrumental in obtaining state certification for the agency. Subsequently, she became the first patient care director for the newly named Health Services at Home, which operated out of Huntington and extended services to the East End of Long Island on both North and South forks.

Mrs. Zebrowski was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo as a member of the New York State Home Care Council, a group which met quarterly in Albany to review and make recommendations on legislation impacting the home health care field. She held this position for seven years. She also served on the Professional Advisory Committees of both the Dominican Sisters Family Health Service and the Eastern Long Island Health Care Board.

In the early 1990s she became project director of the Helping Hands Program, a case management program supplying services, such as nursing, social services, and housekeeping, to elderly patients confined to their homes. This program was sponsored by the Dominican Sisters Family Health Services and supported by the United Way and Southampton Town Community Funds. This program continues to serve those in need in Southampton, East Hampton, the North Fork, and in DSFHS areas, with several towns supplying funds.

Mrs. Zebrowski was predeceased by her husband; and four brothers, Cornelius, Daniel, William and John Crowley. She is survived by four children, Edward P. Zebrowski Jr. of Huntington, Anne Davison of New York City, Sean Patrick Zebrowski of Texas, and Daniel Zebrowski of California; and eight grandchildren.

Visitation was on April 8 at the O’Connell Funeral Home in Southampton. A funeral Mass was held on April 9 at Our Lady of Poland Roman Catholic Church in Southampton, followed by interment at Sacred Hearts Roman Catholic Cemetery in Southampton.

Memorial donations may be made to the Southampton Hospital dialysis unit in Hampton Bays, southamptonhospital.org.