Today, we citizens of this great nation are being overwhelmed with information about health care or, if you listen to some people, the lack of it.

The lengthy and contentious debate has caused me to reflect on health care in my hometown of Napa some six-plus decades ago and to compare it to health care of today.

Back in the 1940s, there were doctors, period. No specialists. You went to a doctor if you were sick. He would put a tongue depressor in your mouth, ask you to say “ah” and then say, “Go home, take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”

For the more serious ailments, the doctor might say, “Go to bed and I’ll drop by to check on you tomorrow.”

Today, if you are sick, you go first to a primary care physician. He or she weighs you, takes your temperature and blood pressure, prescribes several medications and tells you to come back in a week. If he or she can’t help you, you are referred to a specialist.

In days of yore, the cost of an office payment was perhaps $5 cash. If you had the money, fine. If you didn’t, the doctor would probably say, “Just give me what you can or pay me when you get the money.” Or, they might even take a lug box of peaches or a gallon of homemade wine as payment.

Today, payment for medical treatment is based on medical insurance. The cost of an ordinary office visit is usually upwards of $200 — and they won’t take peaches as payment. Wine, maybe.

Today, Napa has hundreds of medical doctors of all ilks and specialties. Most of them have offices in north Napa, near the Queen of the Valley Medical Center.

Back in the mid-20th century, according to the Napa City Directory of 1946, Napa had a total of 16 “physicians and surgeons,” and most had offices downtown.

Old-time Napans, how many of these names from 1946 do you recognize? Harry Baker, Dale Barber, Marie Boehm, R.C. Burkett, George Dawson, A.E. Hauser, Fred Heegler, Oliver Kirkle, Dallas Kittle, Donald Marchus, Dwight Murray Sr., Robert Northrop, W.W. Peterson, W.A. Rees, Joseph Sooy and Laurence Welti?

If you were around in the 1940s, I’m sure you remember some of those doctors. Here are some of my memories.

Dr. Baker lived in a beautiful home at the intersection of Monticello Road and Silverado Trail. The building is still there and is now a care home. (I also remember that he had three beautiful daughters.)

In addition to a thriving practice, Dr. Barber informally acted as the doctor to the athletes at Napa High School. He served as the team doctor at football games.

Dr. Boehm was Napa’s only female physician, and Dr. Hauser purportedly delivered more babies in Napa than any other doctor.

Dr. Dwight Murray Sr., father of the current Dr. Dwight Jr., was the dean of the local medical community. In 1956-57, he served as president of the American Medical Association. Dwight Murray Plaza in downtown Napa is named in his honor.

I especially remember Dr. Welti because, at age 13, I contacted a severe case of poison oak and my mother took me to his office for treatment. He gave me a shot. While my mother was talking to the nurse afterward, I fainted and fell to the floor. For a teenager, that was very embarrassing.

The only existing medical facility in those old days was Parks Victory Hospital on the east side of Jefferson Street between G and H Streets, now the site of a multi-building office complex. Parks Victory seemed adequate at the time because it had an operating room, X-ray machines and patient beds but, as I look back on it now, it was really small. Fortunately, I was never a patient there.

Today, our community is blessed with Queen of the Valley Medical Center, a complex that provides state-of-the-art facilities, and a host of medical professionals able to treat virtually all sorts of maladies and injuries. Unlike Victory, I have had several stays at the Queen and, while being in the hospital is never fun, the care was fantastic.

What are your memories?

Napa As it Was appears every other Monday, alternating with Betty Rhodes’ Senior Corner.