Small Business Times today announces the winners of its fourth annual Health Care Heroes Awards.

The awards honor organizations and individuals who epitomize the spirit embodied in the word "hero" in the delivery of health care to the community.

The goals of the program are to recognize excellence, promote innovation, encourage emulation of successful programs, educate the general public, contribute to the enhancement of the value and quality of health care and, ultimately, give recognition to those deserving.

"These people are doing extraordinary things on the front lines of health care. Every day, they make a difference in someone else's life, and it's an honor to present a program that honors their devotion and their achievements," said Dan Meyer, publisher of Small Business Times.

Here are the winners of this year's Health Care Heroes Awards:
Category: Physician
Steven Leuthner, M.D.
Medical Director, Fetal Concerns Program Children's Hospital of Wisconsin/Medical College of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa
Paul Durbin, M.D.
Physician-Internal (Adult) Medicine
Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group, Racine

Category: Nurse
Pamela Occhetti-Sholund
I.V. R.N. Case Manager
Horizon Home Care & Hospice, Mequon
Robert Leuck
Registered Nurse
Wheaton Franciscan Hospitals, Waukesha

Category: Advancements in Health Care
Jen Nowak
Director, Adult Day Services
LutheranLiving Services, Wauwatosa
Dr. John Heinrich
Orthopedic Surgeon
Milwaukee Orthopedic Group Ltd./Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee

Category: Community Service
Nzinga Khalid
Member Advocate
Independent Care Health Plan, Milwaukee
Christine Boyce
Director of Pediatric Special Care Unit
Milwaukee Center for Independence, Milwaukee

Category: Health Care Staff
Caldonia Washington
Resident Assistant/CNA
Premier Care Centers, Mequon

Category: Corporate Achievement in Health Care
Dianne Kiehl
Executive Director
Business Health Care Group, Franklin
Kalpana Rose Kumar, M.D.
CEO & Founder
Ommani Center for Integrated Medicine, Pewaukee

Category: Volunteer
Dr. Ron and Ronnie Pruhs, R.N.
Retired Chairman of Pediatric Dentistry and Nurse
Marquette University School of Dentistry, Milwaukee
Ermin Humpal
Volunteer
Clement Manor Nursing Home, Hales Corners

Category: Leadership in Health Care
Michael Dunn, M.D.
Executive Vice President & Dean
Medical College of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa
Arvid "Dick" Tillmar
Partner and wellness advocate
Diversified Insurance Services, Waukesha

The distinguished panel of judges selected the winners of the Health Care Heroes Awards from a field of more than 50 nominees. The judges were: Dr. Randall Lambrecht, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Health Sciences; Karen Ordinans, executive director of the Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin; Dr. Sarah Pratt, a pediatrician who is the past president of the Medical Society of Milwaukee County Board of Directors and a past member of the Wisconsin Medical Society Board of Directors; and Connie Roethel, R.N., wellness expert and president of Core Health Group in Mequon.

The Health Care Heroes will be honored at a breakfast on Thursday, Dec. 6, at the Italian Community Center in downtown Milwaukee. WISN-Channel 12 news anchor Patrick Paolantonio will emcee the program.

The public is invited to attend the breakfast to celebrate achievements in health care. For additional information about the event, call Sarah Wilson at (414) 277-8181, ext. 129.

At a special meeting today, shareholders of Midwest Air Group Inc. approved a merger agreement for the company to be acquired by Midwest Air Partners LLC, an affiliate of TPG Capital L.P., for an estimated $450 million.
Under terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of Midwest's common stock will be converted into the right to receive $17 per share in cash.
Shareholders met this morning at Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter and remains subject to regulatory approval.
With regulatory approval, Northwest Airlines Corp. will own a share of Midwest.

The Goris Financial Group announced today that its office, which includes the District Network Offices of the Formella Financial Group in Mequon, Neumann Financial Group in Brookfield and Wilke Financial Group in Racine, is changing its name to the Cornerstone Financial Group of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.
The new name collectively represents all four offices. 
After 27 years of being known as the Goris Financial Group, the office researched names that better reflected the direction of their business, said Tom Goris Jr., managing partner of the agency.
"We feel that the Cornerstone Financial Group name is better aligned with Northwestern Mutual's broadening business model, which includes a full range of financial services beyond life insurance. Our expertise now encompasses life, disability income and long-term care (LTC) insurance, investment products, and employee benefits," Goris said. "Together, these elements comprise the roots - or cornerstone - of true financial strength."
For more information about the company, visit www.nmfn.com/cornerstone.
The newly named company is not affiliated with Cornerstone Business Services Inc., a Green Bay-based mergers and acquisitions and business brokerage firm that specializes in the sales of businesses. Earlier this year, that firm opened a new office in Brookfield.

Individual citizens can be sponsors for the 162nd Birthday Party for the City of Milwaukee.
The annual event, which attended by hundreds of people, will take place Tuesday, Jan. 29, in the remodeled grand ballroom of the Pfister Hotel, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Individual sponsorships are available for $62. The sponsorship provides admission to the party. In addition, the sponsors' names will be featured on the party's invitation, web site and printed program. Additional tickets to attend the event are available for $25 each.
To be a Birthday Party co-host, send a check for $62 to: The Milwaukee Press Club, P.O. Box 223, Hales Corners, WI  53130-0223; or call 262-894-2224 to use a credit card.  Include the spelling of your name as you'd like it listed on the invitation.
The deadline for inclusion of names on the invitation is Dec. 9.
The theme for the 162nd Birthday Party will be "Milwaukee Moments," which will celebrate important moments in Milwaukee's history. The public will be invited to participate in the program soon.
Corporate sponsorships for the party also are available. For additional information, contact Gloria Gappa-Grundman at milwaukeepressclub@gmail.com or (414) 588-9571.

Wisconsin Energy Corp. today reported third quarter net income of $82.9 million, or 70 cents per share, which was up from $70.8 million, or 60 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Milwaukee-based parent company of We Energies reported quarterly operating revenues of $881.5 million, up from $839.8 million a year earlier.
The company's electric sales were up slightly, driven in part by customer growth. The company also benefited from effective cost controls and favorable recovery of fuel costs.
Residential use of electricity grew by 1 percent during the quarter, the company said.
Usage by residential customers was up 3.6 percent in the first nine months of 2007.
Consumption of electricity by small commercial and industrial customers was up 1.6 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, in the third quarter and first nine months of 2007.
Electricity use by large commercial and industrial customers was up 2 percent in the third quarter and relatively even compared to the first nine months of 2006.
"We posted solid financial results in the first nine months of this year," said Gale Klappa, Wisconsin Energy's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "And our focus remains on delivering value with high levels of customer satisfaction and world-class reliability at competitive prices."

Robert Kern, founder of Generac Power Systems Inc., and his wife, Patricia, announced a personal gift of $15 million to Marquette University's College of Engineering to help transform engineering education in the region.
The money will go toward the construction of a new engineering building called the Discovery Learning Complex in Milwaukee.
When completed, the new center will integrate classrooms, teaching labs, research facilities and office space to encourage hands-on, multidisciplinary learning and collaboration aimed at developing the 21st century workforce and meeting the demands of industry.
The projected cost for the facility, which will be built between 16th and 17th streets on the south side of Wisconsin Avenue, is $100 million.
"The Kerns have long recognized the important role science, technology, engineering and mathematics education play in the future of our community - and our country," said Stan Jaskolski, opus dean of engineering at Marquette. "Their generosity brings us closer to the dream of a new building that will blend theory and the real-world practice of research and development. This will help us achieve our ultimate goal of attracting more women and men to engineering at a time when the need is so prevalent."
"We are pleased to be a part of this exciting commitment by the Marquette University College of Engineering," the Kerns said in a prepared statement. "It is compatible with our belief that future generations will be increasingly dependent on expanding science and engineering technology by talented, educated engineers."
Robert Kern retired in 2006, selling his share of the company that he founded in a rented garage in Wales, Wis., in 1959. Since stepping down as chairman of Generac, he and his wife have focused on their philanthropy, with a particular interest in engineering education.
They are leading proponents of Project Lead the Way, a national engineering program for middle and high school students geared toward generating interest in engineering prior to college.  The Kern Family Foundation provides grants to public and private schools in Wisconsin to implement Project Lead the Way. More than 100 schools now offer such programs.
The Kerns' gift is the second eight-figure gift to the College of Engineering in the past year. In December 2006, the college received an anonymous donation of $25 million made to act as a "spark plug" to help transform the engineering school. The benefactors also pledged $1 million annually in perpetuity if such a transformation continues.

Andy Nunemaker, chief executive officer of EMSystem LLC in Milwaukee, and Kim Wall, president of Baensch Food Products Co., will be the featured speakers at the fourth annual Masters Forum.
The event is intended to shed light on the secrets of entrepreneurial success. Nunemaker recently led a management buyout of EMSystem. Wall's company produces Ma Baensch herring, a Milwaukee holiday favorite.
The Masters Forum will be moderated by Mike Gousha, distinguished fellow in Law and Public Policy at the Marquette University Law School.
The event will take place Tuesday, Nov. 13, at Marquette's Alumni Memorial Union in the Monaghan Ballroom, 1442 W. Wisconsin Ave. Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the event at 6:15 p.m., and cocktail reception.
The public is invited, but seating is limited. RSVP by Nov. 6 to Melanie Bloom at marketing@gklaw.comm or call (414) 287-9455.

Green Bay is getting $2.8 million in the state budget for a Fox River boardwalk, which is part of a larger downtown redevelopment effort, including projects by Milwaukee-based Vetter Denk Architecture. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com.

Robert Gintoft, president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), is among the Milwaukee area business executives who are supporting the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail project. Read more in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The BizTimes Stock Index gained .91 points to close at 175.14 Monday, but the stock market slid in early morning trading today on the news that U.S. consumer confidence continued fell in October to its lowest level since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in October 2005, according to the Conference Board. The largest local decliners this morning were Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (down $1.90 to $42.22) and Joy Global Inc. (down $1.70 to $57.21). The largest local advancers this morning were Manpower Inc. (up $2.38 to $71.83) and Gehl Co. (up 89 cents to $19.26). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.