Two new doctors now seeing patients at hospital, clinics

Area residents and staff at Chase County Community Hospital and Clinics are getting to know two new family practice doctors who are now working here full-time.
Dr. James Kerr, MD, of Yankton, South Dakota and Dr. Kayla Luhrs, MD, of Petersburg, Alaska came on board in March.
 Kerr is a family medicine specialist bringing 38 years experience to Chase County’s medical staff.
He actually began working at CCCH in May 2021 for 10 days a month and discovered this was going to be his “dream job,” he said.
Kerr is licensed in South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.
“I am fully trained and certified in Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support and Neonatal Resuscitation,” Kerr said.
He earned his medical degree from Texas Tech University and completed the Cheyenne Family Practice Residency Program at the University of Wyoming in 1987.
His experience includes ER Medical Director, EMS Medical Director and Chief of Medical Staff, all in Yankton.
“Since working here, it has been a positive experience which supports my ideals personally and in medicine,” he said.
“I believe medicine is not just a business, but a mission. My two main guides every day are to be cautious about what is best for everybody and thinking what Jesus would do,” Kerr said.
Family medicine involves emergency medicine, hospice and keeping up on all updates from birth to death, he explained.
“CCCH is very fortunate to have multiple specialists who come here. It’s really nice to have the benefits of representation here close by,” he said.
He commented that all the medical staff works together well at CCCH to gather as much background information on situations to be knowledgeable of how to proceed.
“You can never know everything about everything, but it’s refreshing to work with such a dedicated medical staff—pretty cool,” he said.
The staff is serious about what they put on the line to help patients and each other, he continued.
“I’m impressed by the people who work here and how they support each other. It’s the first hospital where I’ve found such  sincere, straight forward, well-grounded and solid people whose first priority is the patients,” he added.
“In addition to the hospital and clinics, we’re a learning facility for medical students. Advanced teaching is done everyday—it’s a healthy environment for students to further their knowledge,” Kerr said.
CCCH has access via phone or zoom with hospitals and specialists in other areas where patients who have had procedures done elsewhere can be hospitalized here and still be in concert with the medical teams there, he explained.
It’s not about the money with medical staff, he said. It’s about the mission to help people who have acquired a situation.
“It’s like coming to a play date and doing what you love,” he smiled.
Kerr was born in Ohio but at a young age his family moved to Dallas, Texas and then to Austin, Texas where his father was called to the ministry and attended Presbyterian seminary.
“Where we lived in Austin there was an amazing fruit and pecan orchard. The beauty  influenced my life,” he said.
He said they loved lake life and fishing which had an even more profound influence on all their lives.
Kerr has three sisters, his mother was multi-lingual and his father knew some German but learned French when in WWII and became fluent in the language.
His father was a French interpreter and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
Once his father was home, he insisted the family speak only French at the dinner table.
Kerr was also in the military in the early 70s and around the time when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, he said.
“I was a voice intercept operator and was responsible for intelligence gathering. I was fluent in German so functioned as a German translator,” he said.
While in Berlin, he was married to his wife, Diane, who shared his love of touring Germany by bicycle.
She passed away from complications with Multiple Sclerosis.
He later married Gena who, after 12 years of marriage, passed away from colon cancer.
“I wanted to mention them because they deserve recognition in my life,” he said.
In 2012, he married Jennifer who is an RN and nurse practitioner, although she left the medical field to pursue her love of raising a large variety of animals on their farm in Yankton.
The Kerrs have four children ages 13 to 17, who go to school near Yankton.
Kerr lives in Imperial and goes back to the farm for 11 days each month, he said.
“I have a pilot’s license and hope to start flying again soon. That will make the trips to the farm easier,” he added.
Kerr still enjoys cycling and kayaking and pursues those activities often.
From Alaska to Nebraska
Dr. Luhrs was raised in the coastal island town of Ketchikan, Alaska.
“I grew up salmon fishing and berry picking,” Luhrs said.
She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology/Physiology in 2008.
In 2009, Luhrs gained clinical experience working with primary care physicians in the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium for Native Alaskans in Juneau, Alaska.
She spent six months of integrated training experience in a rural location, followed by 10 weeks at Lacor Hospital in Gulu, Uganda.
“Working in Uganda inspired me even more to go into rural primary care,” she said.
She earned a Doctorate of Medicine in 2012 from the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Her residency was completed in 2015, and she is board certified in family medicine with a focus on rural medicine, extensive inpatient, obstetric and emergency medicine.
“While working at a high-acuity urgent care center in Beaverton, Oregon, I continued study in nutrition, yoga and natural medicine,” said Luhrs.
 As with Dr. Kerr, she is currently certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support and Neonatal Resuscitation.
Luhrs has additional training in emergency ultrasound, Physician Assistant supervision and sports medicine, she said.
“I volunteered to work a couple of years in the med-tents during the World Champion Iron Man competition in Hawaii,” Luhrs said.
She is licensed in Nebraska, Alaska and Hawaii.
“I am also interested in holistic medicine, nutrition, movement and women’s health,” she added.
Before moving to Imperial, Luhrs was a full-time staff physician at Petersburg Medical Center in Alaska.

In December, Luhrs came to Imperial to visit family.
She is a niece of Tom and Lynn Luhrs and her 94-year-old grandmother lives here as well. She also has two sisters—one in Alaska and one in Germany.
While here visiting, CCCH representatives asked her if she wanted to work a week at the medical facilities, which she agreed to.
 “After working here, I felt like it was a good fit, and I wanted to be near family, especially my grandmother, as well as it fulfilled my plan to work in rural health care,” Luhrs said.
She moved to Imperial and bought a home. She said she is very excited to be here and is looking forward to the next few years.
“I like family practice because of the variety of it. You never get bored in family medicine. I came from rural health, and that’s what I like,” she continued.
Luhrs is doing volunteer work at Cornerstone Non-Profit Health in Omaha, serving the migrant population and plans to continue her volunteer work there, she said.
Since being here, she said she has only positive things to say.
She likes the close-knit community.
“I like being ingrained as part of a community because it’s easier to understand local people when you get to know them better,” said Luhrs.
This is an adjunct faculty position for the University of Nebraska Medical Center to teach medical students here, she said.
“The providers here are very collaborative and willing to help each other out. The patient flow is good where we can spend more time with each patient which is hard to find these days,” she added.
Luhrs said she feels like this is a healthy work environment and she’s glad to be here.