A CT woman has known ‘white-hot’ pain for decades. Here is what a health system is doing about it

Hartford Courant – Friday, June 6, 2025
By Helen I. Bennett

Deanna Gorman knows very well about the white hot pain, nausea and exhaustion that come with migraine headaches.

She has been living with them since she was about 12.

Until now.

Gorman, who works at Hartford Healthcare, is part of new research, said to be the first-of-its-kind, that is studying migraines in the workplace.

The research, in conjunction with Pfizer, is using Hartford Healthcare employees for the study and began with a survey offered to 44,000 health system colleagues and contract workers.

Gorman, who is the Hartford Healthcare system director and oversees all labs across the organization, has already been seen by Dr. Brian Grosberg, an expert who she said recognized that the dose of a medication she had tried was too low.

The dose of the medication, Nortriptyline, was changed, Gorman said. Now, about three months later, she has had “maybe one episode” of migraine, noting she is “hesitant to even call it that.”

That is compared to the three to four episodes of migraine a month, lasting one to four days each, that she previously suffered, Gorman said.

These episodes often began, before the pain would break through, 24 hours in advance, with “overall tiredness in the body or full body tiredness,” which Gorman said even made her limbs feel heavy. This would be followed by generalized tension and pain across her forehead, before settling behind her right eye, with accompanying light and sound sensitivity, she said. She noted she is only speaking about her own symptoms and that they can differ for migraine sufferers.

Gorman said she knew, despite having a dad who also suffered with migraines, that she waited too long to find help that works. She said that even though she was working in health care, she tried to handle it holistically. “I have just lived with this,” she said. “You dealt with it.”

“I came in to this (study) with no expectation about what it was,” she said. “I am so grateful that I was able to get into the study and work with Dr. Gosberg.”

“This is life changing,” Gorman said.

Gorman and others participating in the study are far from alone.

Migraine is a leading cause of disability in the country, affecting nearly 16% of the U.S. population, according to the National Library of Medicine’s MedLine Plus publication.

Also, while migraine occurs “in about 12% of people age 12 and older in the United States (17% of women and 6% of men), it is about three times more common in women than men. It is most common in midlife, and rates decrease after age 60,” according to American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention.

Further, according to Hartford Healthcare, migraine is the third most common and the sixth most disabling illness in the world, prompting 1.2 million emergency department visits each year in the United States.

Employee well-being

Rosemary Sheehan, an executive vice president and chief people officer at Hartford Healthcare, said the study fits well with the system’s culture of having “anchors” that, in addition to things such as career growth, focus on employee well-being.

“We care deeply about our people, and want to make sure that they are well,” she said. “We are here to provide care to our colleagues too… well-being is an important part of the programming we deliver to our people.”

Sheehan also said that, based on their data, gathered through the survey, they know colleagues can lose more than 10 days of productivity a year due to migraines, and the study will “impact their lives” and overall well-being, not just work.

Also, what is learned from the study can be shared broadly, she said. “We’re on the leading edge.”

Migraine headaches, when they come on through the most productive years of a person’s life, can impact careers, mental health, financial stability, and quality of life, according to Hartford Healthcare.

Among the goals of the study are to increase the general awareness and understanding of migraine, erase the stigma around the disease; enable expedited diagnosis and treatment (though referrals to the Headache Center); and to measure impact on “absenteeism, presenteeism, and employee wellness—before and after intervention,” according to the health system.

Jeffrey A. Flaks, president and CEO of Hartford HealthCare, said he is, “especially proud of this new program because of what it means for our colleagues.

“Together, we’re not just imagining a better future for healthcare—we’re actively building that future, starting with the health and well-being of our own colleagues,” Flaks said. “This innovative research will allow us to take a transformative step forward, setting a new benchmark for workplace wellness and developing a national model that other organizations can follow.”

Grosberg, who treated Gorman and is director of the Hartford HealthCare Ayer Neuroscience Institute Headache Center, said the study is “tremendously groundbreaking.”

To place migraine in context, Grosberg noted that it is “one of the silent diseases that does not get the respect it needs and deserves.” Yet, 42 million people in the United State have migraines, or about 420,000 in Connecticut, with woman disproportionately impacted, he said. The Hartford HealthCare Headache Center receives 600 referrals a month, from multiple states, Grosberg said.

While migraine can occur at other ages, “you are catching people during their most productive years (ages 20s to 50s), it is impacting them, (with) millions of dollars lost due to migraine impacting people in the workplace,” Goseberg said.

A Hartford Healthcare study also has shown 70 percent of migraine sufferers hide it from employers, he said.

The ongoing study is unique for several reasons: it is being done in conjunction with Pfizer, being done within a health system for its own employees, to understand who has it, and to fast track referrals for treatment, and includes an education program and a management program for all employees, not just those with migraine, among other things, Grosberg said.

Grosberg also noted that “there is a tremendous stigma attached to migraine,” and many people don’t understand they have it, it can go undiagnosed and health care providers can have limited experience and training in it. He said the Headache Center in Connecticut is one of the largest in the country, serving people from multiple states.

Grosberg said the results of the study will be available to other employers as well.

“There are national and international implications for migraine sufferers,” he said, with the goal including fewer days and hours of work lost and better functionality for the migraine sufferers.

Gorman said she doesn’t call out of work when she has a migraine, but does have a light dimmer in her office and has “co workers who understand it effects the day-to-day of how you can work and function.”

While she said there could be episodes of “struggling to get through the day,” but with treatment it is a “night and day” difference.

Gorman said that she also has lost the nervousness that can accompany knowing a migraine is impending. “It ruins your day,” she said.

““At Hartford HealthCare, our people are our greatest strength and we are 44,000 colleagues strong,” Flaks said.

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