Karla Canuto, Women’s health and fitness expert
Karla Canuto
For women’s health and fitness expert Karla Canuto, the key challenge of Indigenous health is keeping people well so that they don’t get sick.
Karla, a Torres Strait Islander, has developed a fitness program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and is researching its impacts as part of her PhD at the University of South Australia.
Increasingly, she is seeing women make healthy lifestyle choices that are turning their lives around. Positive outcomes like these, Karla says, send an equally positive message to anyone contemplating joining the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce – “you can make a difference.”
“It may take time to get things established so you need to be patient. Building relationships and gaining people’s trust is essential,” she says. “But the outcomes can be very rewarding.
“I reckon I have the best job in the world. For me, this is about making sure that the dollars we are spending on health are going to areas that can keep people well, which ultimately saves a lot of money and improves their quality of life.”
Keeping people well has long been an aim of Karla’s. “When I was in high school I knew I wanted to work in health, but I wanted to work with healthy people, not sick people,” Karla says.
“I’d always been interested in health and fitness, so I did a Bachelor of Sports and Exercise Science at James Cook University in Townsville. I later completed a Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health promotion.
“Before I moved to Adelaide, I was working in the Torres Strait for Queensland Health doing physical activity health promotion. I wanted to do something though, not just tell people what to do. I started out yarning with my aunties and cousins and we came up with an eight-week fitness program that was cheap to run and that people could continue at home.
“After just eight weeks the average loss from around the waist of the women who completed the first program was 5cm. It was encouraging to know that we might be on to something. So now I’ve set out to get the evidence we need to show that a simple group exercise program can get real results and improve metabolic fitness.
“I love working with the ladies, and seeing the changes happen and having the women giving you positive feedback, is amazing. We’ve had participants say: ‘It’s changed my life’.”
The program is based around 24 group circuit sessions over 12 weeks. “We teach the participants good technique, and the exercises have levels so that you can advance as your strength and fitness improves,” Karla says. “It’s about giving women the skills and confidence to do it on their own. There are so many barriers to exercise, so we are trying to take some of those away. Once you’ve completed the program, you can continue it at home. You don’t need a gym membership, expensive equipment or fancy clothes.
“I’ve kept the program simple and practical. If we can show this works, I’d love to see the program rolled out Australia-wide.”
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