HEALTH CARE

Dr. Loren Hughes joined Dr. Paul Malcharek at HSHS Medical Group Family & Internal Medicine in Collinsville. HSHS is associated with St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville. Hughes, a board-certified family medicine physician, most recently practiced as an emergency department physician and medical director at St. Joseph's Hospital in Breese. Hughes earned his medical degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield.

BUSINESS

• Ann Hammer was named an associate stockholder in Thouvenot, Wade & Moerchen Inc., a local civil engineering and surveying firm. Hammer, a licensed certified public accountant, joined TWM in 1984 and serves as the firm's comptroller. The firm has offices in Swansea, Waterloo and Edwardsville.

• Hortica Insurance and Employee Benefits is the newly named sponsor of July events and movies at Edwardsville's Wildey Theatre. The company, with corporate offices in Edwardsville, handles horticultural industry insurance, serving wholesale floral distributors and retail florists, greenhouse growers and nurseries, garden centers, landscape contractors, and interior plantscapers. Hortica also has an agency/brokerage division that provides employee benefits and personal insurance to non-horticultural businesses and individuals in Edwardsville, Glen Carbon and the Metro East area communities. Hortica's sponsorship provides funds to support the on-going activities of the theater.

• The Illinois SBDC International Trade Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville recently won the International Trade Center of the Year Award at the Illinois Export Conference Awards Luncheon. The export awards recognize companies that have achieved excellence in exporting and organizations that have provided substantial export assistance to Illinois companies. The ITC at SIUE assisted its clients in the generation of more than $71 million in export sales through its consulting, training and research services. During the past 10 years, the ITC has provided Latin America-specific counseling and training services to clients from the entire state, with the goal of improving the competitiveness of all Illinois companies through building exports to Central and South America.

CHARITY

• Kurt's Carstar Collision Center, Scott Credit Union and three local chambers of commerce raised $16,000 to grant three children with life-threatening medical conditions their wishes. The donations were raised at Kurt's Carstar's Business After Hours Make-A-Wish Fundraiser, which benefited the Illinois chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The three children are a 4-year-old boy from Collinsville who has muscular dystrophy, who is going to Disney World; a 5-year-old boy from Fairview Heights who has cancer of the retina, who is going to Disney World; and a 16-year-old boy from Belleville who has a brain tumor, who is going to visit the California redwood forest and take a train ride along the West Coast. The chambers involved are Troy-Maryville, Collinsville and Edwardsville-Glen Carbon.

• Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois is partnering with the Madison County Juvenile Detention Center to provide female residents with programming that develops leadership, self esteem and healthy relationship skills. Trained Girl Scout staff will lead workshops and interactive exercises for girls that will include topics such as recognizing personal strengths and values, resisting peer pressure, maintaining healthy habits, communicating assertively, working cooperatively and overcoming obstacles and stress. Together, GSSI and Madison County Juvenile Detention Center aim to empower girls to overcome challenges in their lives and to make informed and educated decisions regarding their sense of self, relationships, body and mind.

ENGINEERING

• Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc., consulting engineers won the 2010 Lincoln Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence from the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence. The honor recognizes CMT for its dedication to quality and continuous improvement in its service to its clients, community and employees. The firm has an office in Edwardsville.

CMT provides engineering and project management services for aviation, highway, bridge, water, wastewater and land development.

• Joseph Hagerty, chief executive officer of Oates Associates, was elected to the American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri Board of Directors. As a board member, he is assigned to help members survive the economic downturn and enhance the council's public image. Hagerty joined Oates in 1991 and oversees the firm's finance and accounting, marketing and human resources. Oates is a civil and structural engineering and architectural design firm with offices in Collinsville and St. Louis.

TOURISM

The Tourism Bureau Southwestern Illinois and the Southeastern Illinois Convention and Visitors Bureau have merged to create the new Tourism Bureau ILLINOISouth. The new region encompasses 19 counties, including Madison, Monroe and St. Clair.

The Tourism Bureau ILLINOISouth will office in Fairview Heights in the current space occupied by the Southwestern Bureau. A new website, active in August, will be thetourismbureau.org.

Tourism in the 19 counties generated $941 million in visitor expenditures in 2009 (the most recent numbers available).

BANKING

The Bank of Edwardsville was recently recognized for the creative development of two fundraising events that helped raise money for the March of Dimes and American Cancer Society.

The Bank received the Illinois Bankers Association's 2011 Illinois Bank Community Service Award at the 120th Annual IBA Conference and Trade Show. The award is given to honor financial institutions that demonstrate a high level of service for their communities. The Bank of Edwardsville was honored for its community outreach endeavors, The Bay and The Show.

The Bay benefits the March of Dimes Walk for Babies and is The Bank's spin on eBay, where employees donate items for an auction. The auction, an ongoing event, has helped raise $40,000.

The Show is a newer fundraising endeavor, which benefits the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life events. In 2010, a handful of The Bank's employees got together and developed a plan for a variety show. The initial fundraising goal for The Show was $2,000-$3,000. After all the money was counted, the fundraiser raised more than $8,500. This year's event generated more than $15,000.