Got my flu shot at the MinuteClinic

There are now two things you can do in Massachusetts that you can't do in Rhode Island: marry your same-sex partner and get a flu shot. Two reasons why the Bay State has it all over the Ocean State.

This morning, I took a half-hour drive to lovely Fall River, Mass., to get a seasonal flu shot at a MinuteClinic in a CVS pharmacy. I just filled out a form with my insurance information and another form with some basic medical information and I was out of there in about an hour.

I thought I could get a flu shot from my primary-care physician in Rhode Island, as I do every year. I prefer it that way. Unfortunately, the vaccine is in short supply here. My physician's office ran out and suggested I call drugstores to see whether any of them were offering flu-shot clinics.

It's ironic that the doctor's office would direct me to a drugstore for medical care and that I ultimately ended up getting my flu shot at a MinuteClinic, because the Rhode Island Medical Society has opposed allowing them in the state.

Dr. Frederic V. Christian, formerly head of the RIMS, said “To the extent that MinuteClinic has the effect of diverting patients from primary care, MinuteClinic will become a disruptive player in Rhode Island, potentially undermining doctor-patient relationships, and contributing to the fragmentation and ill-coordination of health care services.”

I understand the need to develop a relationship with a primary-care physician and I have a good one. But what happens when your doctor can't provide the health-care service you need - and the MinuteClinic can? (And how does CVS obtain the flu vaccine that Rhode Island can't get?)

Thank goodness I live near another state that's more forward-thinking and I have the ability to get in my car and drive there. What happens to people who don't have that ability?

The Hurricane of 1938, set to music

The Hurricane of 1938 was the costliest, most powerful and deadliest storm in New England history - nearly 700 people killed, wind gusts of up to 186 mph, 8,000 homes destroyed - and now, it's a musical.

Hurricane, which debuted last month at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, is about the southern Rhode Island community of Napatree Point that was wiped out when the storm struck on Sept. 21, 1938. Fifteen people were killed and all of the approximately 40 houses on the spit of land were destroyed.

The book, by Michael Holland and Eric Bernat, tells the story of how unsuspecting citizens went about their daily lives while a lone weather forecaster tried in vain to alert his superiors to the impending disaster.

I know it sounds little melodramatic but sadly, it's true.

A 28-year-old junior forecaster named Charles Pierce correctly predicted that the storm would touch down on land, not curve out to sea. He was overruled by senior forecasters who decided against issuing a hurricane warning because they didn't think one was likely in New England.

While the musical, which features Holland's score of Depression-era pop, folk songs and sea chanties, is set in the 1930s, he's aiming for something more than a history lesson. The show is described as "a testament to hope, endurance, rebirth and survival."

Holland, who grew up in Connecticut, tells The New York Times that he remembers his grandmother and other family members talking about the hurricane.

And if you're thinking he's going for some deeper meaning here, you'd be correct. Holland definitely sees parallels between what happened in Rhode Island in 1938 and the government's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005:

"There are a lot of similarities. The preparation wasn’t what it could have been. After the 1938 hurricane, the government said it was a freak storm, when in fact someone had predicted it. They sloughed off their responsibility to the 600 or 700 people who were killed."

You have three more chances to see Hurricane, on Oct. 9 at 5 p.m., Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. and Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. at the Theatre at St. Clements.

Unfortunately, I can't get to New York but it sounds interesting. I like it when musical theatre tackles serious, difficult subjects. Plus, there aren't that many musicals set in Rhode Island - in fact, this may be the only one.