Olevia Metry, M.D., worked in urgent care for more than three years before making a realization about the patients she saw there: once they were well assessed and treated by their family doctors, their visits to urgent care and the emergency department would decrease. That’s the sort of consistent, continuous care Metry now provides as a family doctor at Hackensack Meridian Health, in Hoboken.

“Traditionally, as you stayed with the same pediatrician until adulthood, you’d stay with the same family doc thereafter,” she says. “They would see you when you’re sick and healthy, know your ins and outs and baselines. But in a world where we long for quick visits and no long-term commitments, urgent care clinics have thrived.”

Her goal is to provide care the way it’s most effective: by establishing a relationship with patients and keeping them healthy so they don’t end up in urgent care centers or the emergency department unnecessarily. She focuses on helping them stay healthier to begin with through preventive care.

“I’m passionate about women’s health, preventative medicine through a healthy lifestyle— something people have been calling lifestyle medicine—and metabolic disease,” she says.

Metry started out in New York City but moved to Hoboken in 2018, for more space and a little more quiet for her growing family. Her husband still works in the city, and their 18-month-old son, James, stars in her Instagram account. Follow her @Dr_Olevia.

Location: Palisades Medical Center, 108 Washington St., Hoboken, NJ. For appointments and information, call 201-656-5688.