Problems with drop bar comfort often have to do with fit and setup of the bike. For speed there's a benefit to drop bars that you don't get with a lot of others: a more aero position and a position that engages more of your muscles. For distance there's a benefit as well: a variety of hand positions. But to realize these you have to be positioned right, as well as have bars that aren't themselves a problem.

If the budget allows it, I'd say go to a shop that will perform a bike fitting (and has a person who is trained and experienced in it, perhaps an owner with grey hair and the musculature of a long-time rider, and who actively trains the newbie mechanics), and see if they will critique her position and make recommendations. Even better would be to measure her and give you a set of contact point measurements you can use to get her in the best position for that bike. You'll need to make changes as time goes, but it gets you a baseline that should be better than what she has. And good fitting is not a matter of drop vs. lauterwasser, or Brooks vs. Selle Italia.