Not to sound like an old guy, but I still remember clearly and fondly my family doctor from the 1950s-60s, Dr. Adrian Delerzon. He was always friendly and calm no matter what was happening, and his concern and ethic has imprinted his memory on my mind as clearly as if I had just seen him last week. This was of course in the days when the doctor (in his solo practice with a part-time nurse) would see patients in his office in the afternoon, after spending the morning making house calls and hospital visits. Often he’d stop again at sickbeds on his way home at night. I was a teen when he retired, and I’ve never met a doctor like him since.

There was a time, I suppose, when competence was just assumed, and a professional was evaluated using perhaps more vague but still critically important indicators. The idea that the town doctor would live in town and be a central support of the community is I suppose a somewhat antiquated concept, but nobody had to teach Dr Delerzon or his replacement, Dr Kellogg, anything at all about human relations — they were treating their neighbors, after all.

Thanks for a great column! I look forward to reading here often.