Popular Helena nurse Hannah Sieracki dies at 34

Hannah Margaret Sieracki, 34, a registered nurse and certified intensive care nurse, died July 15 following an accident.

“We are all heartbroken and devastated by her loss,” said Vicky Byrd, CEO of the Montana Nurses Association.

Sieracki worked at St. Peter’s Health and was an influential member of the nursing union MNA.

She helped organize St. Peter’s Health nurses at the Broadway and North clinics, joining the already unionized intensive care nurses.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of Hannah’s passing, as she was a dedicated nurse who worked in multiple departments at St. Peter’s Health,” St. Peter’s Health said in a statement Tuesday. “Our thoughts and condolences are with everyone who knew her, including her family, friends, patients and team members.”

Sieracki worked for MNA’s bargaining unit 13 until shortly before her death, Byrd said.

The local unit plans to meet next week to discuss next steps and mourn their loss, Byrd said, and mediation will begin in late August.

“I am proud to be among the clinical nurses who stand up for what is right – for our collective voice to be heard, for better patient care, and for fair wages and benefits,” Sieracki said in a 2023 MNA press release filed a month before the clinical nurses successfully unionized.

In lieu of flowers, her family asked for donations to MNA at mtnurses.org. Byrd said she cried when she heard about it. Details of the death were not released.

In addition to her achievements as a nurse and with the MNA, Sieracki was an avid outdoorsman. According to an obituary in Maine’s Lincoln County News, she thrived on running and skiing.

She believed in improving herself and the world, the obituary says.

“She was a valued and caring family member, friend and partner,” the obituary reads. “Her positive and adventurous attitude to life will be missed forever.”

Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, and raised in Maine, she attended Edgecomb Eddy School and Wiscasset High School, earned a BA from Whitman College, and graduated with a BSRN from the University of Montana.

Survivors include her partner Brad DeFrees, her mother Pamela Staveley and her partner Gary Lee, her father Michael Sieracki and his wife Laura Sebastianelli, and her sister Rita Pierce and her husband Sean Pierce.

Efforts to reach some family members on Tuesday were unsuccessful.