Your health is our primary mission
As your primary health-care provider, our medical team cares about the whole patient: body, mind and spirit. We provide a variety of services with a holistic approach to wellness:
- Comprehensive health history and physical exams
- Medical diagnosis for acute and chronic health conditions
- Minor procedures
- Prescriptions for medications to treat chronic health conditions
- Well-child exams and immunizations
- Behavioral health counseling and medication
- Referral to medical specialists and community outreach programs
- Vaccines for children and adults
- Tobacco cessation referrals
Hours
8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday
Appointments
Coos Bay
Phone 541-888-9494, then press 1.
Fax 541-888-5556
Eugene
Phone 541-916-7025
Fax 541-916-7048
How to sign up
To register as a Ko-Kwel Wellness Center patient, please fill out the questionnaire below. Once complete, please send by postal mail or fax to your KWC.
IMPORTANT: Do not email this packet. It may contain personal health information and your Social Security number.
Meet our healthcare providers
Dr. Keerti Jaini
Medical Director
Our medical director fills multiple roles in the community. At Ko-Kwel Wellness Center, she cares for patients and supervises our other primary-care providers. She also practices internal medicine North Bend Medical Center. And she’s a hospitalist, caring for patients who’ve been admitted to Bay Area Hospital.
Dr. Keerti Jaini’s multiple roles strengthen KWC’s connections to larger community institutions. And they ensure that KWC patients will find a familiar face if they need in-patient hospital treatment.
Dr. Jaini was born and raised in India, earning her medical degree at Kakatiya Medical College. She completed her internal medicine residency at New Jersey’s Monmouth Medical Center. She has special interests in endocrinology and geriatric medicine.
Though she was raised and educated on the far side of the planet, Dr. Jaini feels at home in a tribal medical clinic. She shares KWC’s philosophy of treating the whole patient rather than just the disease. And she says Native Americans share many cultural values with the people of her homeland, including reverence for Elders.
She and her husband, a software engineer, enjoy the work-life balance they’ve found on the Oregon Coast.
Leann Willis Welch
Family Nurse Practitioner
Leann Willis Welch has been a family nurse practitioner for the Coquille Indian Tribe since 2012. With advanced education and training, she diagnoses illnesses, prescribes medications and performs other tasks traditionally handled by doctors.
She is well-known to tribal patients as a trustworthy partner in maintaining their wellness.
Leann hasn’t always been in the medical field. She attended Iowa State University on an Army ROTC scholarship. Then she served four years of active duty, reaching the rank of captain.
After leaving the Army, Leann earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Ga. She worked for nearly 13 years a registered nurse in fields such as telemetry, cardiac intensive care and the emergency room. She eventually earned her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix in Tempe, becoming a family nurse practitioner.
In Coos Bay, she worked for several years at Waterfall Community Health Center before moving to her current position with the tribe.
Daniel Carlson
Physician Assistant
Daniel Carlson has provided primary medical care at Ko-Kwel Wellness Center since it opened in 2021. He’s a strong believer in preventive medicine and the healing power of good food and regular exercise.
He also advocates for regular wellness checks, especially for kids and adolescents, many of whom have had their mental and physical health negatively impacted by COVID.
He holds a Master of Science from Pacific University. Before becoming a physician assistant, he worked as an advanced emergency medical technician in Washington County, Ore. Before working in medicine, he graduated from the University of California at Davis with a degree in economics and worked in commercial banking.
He enjoys archery, photography and hiking.
Jennifer Hope
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
While training to become a nurse practitioner in 2006, Jennifer Hope developed a close friendship with a Cherokee Indian nurse practitioner in rural West Virginia. Working in a tribal clinic has been one of her goals ever since.
A coal miner’s daughter, Jennifer has a Master of Science in nursing from West Virginia University in Charleston. She became a psychiatric nurse practitioner in 2021, when she earned a post-graduate certificate from Virginia’s Shenandoah University.
Jennifer spends most of her time at Coast Community Health Center in Bandon and Port Orford, Ore. At KWC, she manages mental health medication for patients of all ages. She also provides medication-assisted treatment to those who are challenged with alcohol and substance abuse.
Kenda Plate
Licensed professional counselor
Kenda M. Plate serves as your behavioral health consultant. She is skilled in reducing intrusive mental health problems and empowers clients to build coping skills.
Kenda has focused her practice on high-risk and underserved populations in rural communities. She previously worked in the Klamath Tribal Health and Family Services agency in Klamath Falls.
She is certified in mindfulness-based stress reduction and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
Kenda can help with difficult life problems, eating and activity changes for a healthy weight, behavioral changes for tobacco or alcohol use, and a variety of mental health problems.
24-7 nurse phone line
The Ko-Kwel Wellness Center offers free 24-hour call-in medical help lines for all tribal members and patients of the center’s Medical Clinic. (For medical emergencies, please phone 9-1-1 or go to the nearest emergency room.)
Patient Portal
Fast, reliable communication with your medical provider is accessible 24/7. The Patient Portal is only a click away.