Karen Giblin: Westport’s New Red Hot Mama

When Karen Giblin was in her 6th year as Ridgefield’s first selectwoman, she had an emergency hysterectomy.

Removal of her ovaries caused immediate menopause. She was 40 years old.

“I was moderating meetings having hot flashes,” Giblin — now a Westport resident — recalls.

“I had night sweats. I was fatigued and depressed. I felt lost.”

Karen Giblin

Searching for information and support, she found little.

Giblin’s background was in politics. She grew up in Baltimore, where her family was friendly with the famed D’Alessandro family.

After college, she worked for Mayor Thomas D’Alessandro. (His sister Nancy Pelosi moved to San Francisco, and became the first female Speaker of the House.)

Giblin knew little about medicine. But she learned quickly, and for the past 30 years has been a leading menopause educator. Her in-depth program — covering a wide spectrum of health and wellness topics — is used by hospitals across the country.

Her organization is Red Hot Mamas. That’s what her daughter Rachel called her, when Giblin — face red, suffering hot flashes — was in the throes of a hormonal reaction she knew little about.

The first meeting, at the Ridgefield Public Library, drew 50 people. They soon moved to larger quarters, in a church.

When Danbury Hospital asked Giblin to present a program, 600 women showed up.

Red Hot Mamas was off and running. Over 250 hospitals have licensed it since.

Topics include many effects of menopause: cardiovascular, osteoporosis, sleep, weight gain, urinary and more.

After leaving the Ridgefield selectwoman’s office, Red Hot Mamas became Giblin’s full-time gig.

She is a member of The Menopause Society, The International Menopause Society, and The Menopause Priority Setting Partnership, a global alliance of researchers, clinicians, and policy and advocacy groups from 41 countries.

Giblin runs the RedHotMamas website, edits a monthly newsletter (“The Menopause Minute”), writes books and publishes research. She has testified before Congress, and appears frequently on TV.

“Six thousand women a day enter menopause,” Giblin notes. “It’s a natural life transition, or it can happen surgically or through chemotherapy. But very few women are prepared for it. It can be mysterious and intimidating.”

Doctors — pressed for time in today’s healthcare environment — have little time to talk to women about the symptoms, moods and brain fog that can accompany menopause. Many lack sufficient training themselves, from medical school or residency.

If women don’t understand it, they may not be compliant with hormone or other therapies, Giblin says.

They may be less able too to make informed decisions about how to protect their long-term health. Osteoporosis, for example, is a common result of declining estrogen.

“Knowledge is power,” Giblin says. “If a woman is crying all the time, sad, with hair loss or hot flashes — that affects her life. We provide education.”

Funding comes from organizations that license the program. Red Hot Mamas supplies the turnkey program; hospitals provide the space and clinicians.

An important part of Red Hot Mamas is its medical advisory board.

Locally, the next chances for education come March 18, April 15 and May 20, at Norwalk Hospital. The topics are osteoporosis, sleeplessness and urinary concerns, respectively. Click here for details.

The programs are free. Spouses and significant others are welcome. “If you’re living with someone who can’t sleep and has mood swings, that affects you too,” Giblin points out. (One section of the website is called “Man Cave.”)

The hospital is next door to Westport, where Giblin moved recently. She and her husband had been in New Jersey for work, after she left Ridgefield politics.

When he retired last year, they wanted to return to Connecticut. Westport seemed like a natural choice.

It has not disappointed.

Giblin has quickly learned to appreciate the “cool blend of culture, nature, coastal charm, strong community spirit, shopping and dining. And it has less of a suburban vibe than other towns.”

Almost as soon as she moved in, Giblin attended the State of the Town meeting at the Library.

She heard about the issues affecting Westport — affordable housing, traffic, the environment — and realized they were not much different from those she grappled with more than 3 decades ago, as Ridgefield’s 1st selectwoman.

Giblin would love to find a way to get involved in local affairs. She has plenty of expertise and experience.

Let’s give a warm Westport welcome to this Red Hot Mama.

(For details on Red Hot Mamas — including the newsletter, questions for medical experts and more — click here.)

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