The Health and Public Affairs Atrium is getting a new quick service style café that will be doing more than just providing students with a lunch break. At first glance, the aptly named Knights on the Go Café looks like just another food vendor, then you notice the trapeze-like harness suspended right behind the counter.
The café is actually a unique rehabilitation effort for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), who will be working behind the counter to practice both physical and vocational skills as part of their therapy. The entire program is developed by UCF Go Baby Go!, an initiative of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at UCF to provide innovative, accessible, and practical options to promote the lives of individuals with limited mobility. So not only is the café going to be providing fast dining services to one of our 60,000 #hustling students, but it is quite literally getting individuals with TBI “on the go”.
The suspended harness connects to a frictionless multi-directional movement support frame that helps reduce participants’ leg work and catches them if they lose their balance. This system gives those with motor impairments free range of motion and increased independence, which is important to their overall recovery.
Other therapy options for individuals suffering from TBI lack the immersive component that the Knights on the Go Café provides to the participants. Traditional physical therapy is one to two times a week for about one hour, which is not nearly enough time for muscles to re-strengthen in these individuals. Getting participants up and moving more frequently and for a longer duration can shorten their recovery time significantly. Additionally, individuals participating in this therapy technique at Knights on the Go will contribute to further research at UCF for non-traditional neurological recovery.
UCF junior Hannah Starner loves the new dining concept, “Knights on the Go provides such a great way to help integrate students with physical and developmental disabilities. It gives them the necessary professional and social skills they need help aquiring”.
The kiosk will be staffed by one Aramark student employee regularly, with the addition of two local individuals suffering from TBI, Diana and Anthony. The student employee is there to facilitate the sales process should one of the participants need additional help, but besides that, they are on their own to interact with customers. Starner continues, “…by interacting with the public they learn so much more! Even if it’s a simple task like greeting a customer”.
After a successful soft opening back in November of 2015, the Knights on the Go Café is now fully operational with hours between 9:00am-2:00pm Monday through Thursday and 9:00am-1:00pm on Friday. Stop in for some of their quick service food options including soft drinks, fruit, and even premade salads and sandwiches.