KNIGHTS, which stands for Keeping Neighbors In Good Health Through Service, operates twice a month at Grace Medical Home and provides ongoing primary care for about 70 patients. The clinic, run by UCF medical students under the supervision of medical school faculty and local physicians, also offers free health education, disease prevention, mental health support, case management and referrals.

The new facility includes 22 patient rooms, up from 10 at the last location, as well as specific areas for pediatric and dental services. With more administrative space and workstations, the KNIGHTS clinic now uses a computerized tracking system to streamline patient visits from arrival to check-out.

Having more space also means the clinic has been able to accommodate more volunteer students. This year, for example, KNIGHTS added a record 55 first-year M.D. students at the beginning of the school year and also increased its number of social work students from UCF and pharmacy students from 海角直播 of Florida. The clinic also hopes to add UCF students from programs like physical therapy.

Second-year medical student and clinic co-director Katie Porter, says the new facility offers a better experience for both patients and students.

鈥淧atients don鈥檛 have to feel rushed because we need the room and the wait time has been shorter,鈥� Porter says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to process patients more quickly and while we鈥檙e only seeing about six patients per night, we鈥檙e hoping to increase that number,鈥� she added.

Patients have also seen a difference. 鈥淭he potential for good that they can do in a space like this is just magnificent,鈥� says Karla Kizzort, a marketing professional who has been a KNIGHTS clinic patient for the last five years. 鈥淎t the old location, people were tripping over each other. Now there鈥檚 room for people to do things and more students to come in and learn. I just want to shout it from the rooftops what a positive this new location is!鈥�

Magdalena Pasarica, the clinic鈥檚 medical director and a physician-educator at UCF, says the new facility will not only improve patient care, but allow for more collaboration and learning.

鈥淚鈥檓 very excited about this new facility, as I think it allows a lot more space for discussion and learning for the students,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e only had a small group of medical students back when we just started. We鈥檝e since added pharmacy and social work students, and now we鈥檙e thinking of adding physical therapy and audiology. So we鈥檙e going to have more partnerships and more students working together. So this added spaces creates a good opportunity to increase the number of patients we see and increase the number of students learning.鈥�

Funded by the Diebel Legacy Fund at Central Florida Foundation, the KNIGHTS clinic has received national recognition for its outstanding care and its unique partnership with a private clinic. 聽In 2017, the clinic was honored by the Clinton Foundation for its obesity and lifestyle education program.

Orlando has an estimated 200,000 uninsured residents. Stephanie Garris, Grace Medical Home鈥檚 CEO, says her team realized about five years ago that the clinic was outgrowing its old space and began raising money for a new facility.

鈥淭here is still a great need in Central Florida and so we are thrilled with the partnership with the KNIGHTS clinic in helping us to bridge that gap,鈥� Garris says. 鈥淚t has allowed our patients to have a different experience and work with the students while receiving excellent care. So we think it鈥檚 a win-win situation.鈥�

Porter, who says she was moved to tears when she first saw the new facility, thanked Grace Medical Home for their investment in creating a better space to care for community members who are often overlooked.

鈥淔or many patients, this is their last stop for care,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ecause with no insurance not many places will care for them. So, for them to be able to come here to this brand new, exquisite building, it makes them feel like somebody cares, like they have a home.鈥�

The student-run free clinic provides care for Central Floridians with limited access to health care. College of Medicine students created the clinic with the help of community partners four years ago.

The Innovation Award for Health Care Provider Training and Education recognizes health professional training programs that promote new ways to address obesity. The honor, a joint initiative of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, American College of Sports Medicine and Bipartisan Policy Center, is aimed at inspiring more schools to strengthen and promote training programs that tackle obesity, related chronic diseases and physical inactivity.

KNIGHTS (Keeping Neighbors In Good Health Through Service) was applauded for assessing, treating and counseling obese patients through education and promotion of lifestyle changes.

KNIGHTS, funded by The Diebel Legacy Fund at Central Florida Foundation, operates at Grace Medical Home twice a month under the supervision of the medical school鈥檚 volunteer and core faculty and local physicians. Students handle all aspects of the clinic 鈥� from making appointments and drawing blood to providing intensive patient education.

鈥淎ll of our patients are without health insurance, many have not seen a physician in years, and all have incomes near the federal poverty line,鈥� explained Ashley Brown, a fourth-year medical student and former KNIGHTs Clinic Director. 鈥淭his not only makes access to healthy nutritious foods difficult, but getting advice on living a healthy lifestyle may be hard to come by for our patients.鈥�

鈥淭he counseling that our patients receive at KNIGHTS can allow them to live a healthier, happier life and also help avoid the complications of obesity such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease without expensive and complicated medical management.鈥�

Brown accepted the award from President Clinton who commended the clinic for its efforts.

The health alliance reports that fewer than 30 percent of medical schools meet the minimum number of hours of education in nutrition and exercise science recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. While 94 percent of physicians agree, nutritional counseling should be a part of the visit with a patient, only 14 percent of doctors feel they have adequate training to do so, the alliance reports.

鈥淭his award is very significant because it shows one more time that the UCF College of Medicine is the forefront of innovation in education and service,鈥� said Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, associate professor at the College of Medicine and medical director for the KNIGHTS Clinic.

鈥淭he bottom line is that lifestyle improvement works, whether we have obesity or not, to prevent disease both chronic and acute,鈥� Dr. Pasarica said. 鈥淚 think that other medical schools adopt this model because it has proven to be effective and provides advantages to both patients and students. So, it鈥檚 a win-win for all.鈥�

The annual conference drew more than 400 students from medical schools nationwide who are working with free clinics or are interested in establishing one. 聽Third-year students Erin Kane, Mike Arnold, Lynda Yu, Kayla Avery, Glenn Gookin offered two platform presentations and two poster presentations on the KNIGHTS Clinic, run in partnership with 聽Grace Medical Home near downtown Orlando. About 25 patients are receiving continuing care at the free clinic one night a month and the students have helped Grace ease a backlog of uninsured patients needing primary and specialty care.

Dr. Caridad Hernandez, the KNIGHTS Clinic faculty adviser, praised students for their dedication in making the facility successful. 鈥淭he KNIGHTS Clinic is truly a student run clinic and I am so proud of what the student leaders have accomplished,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here has also been tremendous support from the entire COM student body and to date over 111 students from M-1 to M-4 years are active volunteers; that represents one-third of the entire study body!鈥�

Kane and Avery鈥檚 25-minute presentation, titled 鈥淐ollaboration for Patient Care,鈥� discussed how students collaborated with community organizations 聽to open the clinic. The Diebel Legacy Fund at the Community Foundation of Central Florida provided $10,000 to support the clinic and the Winter Park Health Foundation donated $5,000. 鈥淪tudents from other institutions were amazed by what we were able to set up so quickly being such a young school,鈥� Kane said. 鈥淯CF was as well represented as many older, longer established schools and clinics.鈥�

Yu鈥檚 poster presentation on 聽鈥淣avigating the Challenges of an Affiliation Agreement between a 海角直播 and a Private Free Clinic,鈥� detailed how the College of Medicine was able to partner with the existing 聽Grace Medical Home. 聽鈥淚t was an honor to represent UCF COM and the KNIGHTS Clinic at the conference, to show our peers all that the clinic has accomplished in the past year.鈥� Yu said. 鈥淭he timing, with the clinic鈥檚 first anniversary the day before the conference, just made things even better.鈥�

Another 25-minute platform presentation from Arnold titled: 鈥淒evelopment of a Laboratory Training Module at a Student Run Free Clinic,鈥� explained how students were trained to run the KNIGHTS Clinic鈥檚 lab and get more hands-on learning experiences. Gookin鈥檚 presentation on 鈥淧artnership between a Student-Run Clinic and a Private Medical Home鈥� drew a great deal of interest. 鈥淎t one point there was a line students and faculty waiting to ask me questions about the unique components of the project,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his reflects how fortunate we are to have such a successful collaboration with Grace Medical Home.鈥�

The students have continually expressed their gratitude to their physician mentors, Dr. Marvin Hardy, director of Grace Medical Home, 聽Dr. Pinkal Patel, a family medicine specialist who works at the clinic and also is a preceptor to first- and second-year students, and core faculty members Drs. Hernandez and Judy Simms-Cendan, who helped guide them through the process of opening a medical clinic.