“It is remarkable that you can divide your life’s work into periods if you are lucky to live long enough. There is no way I could have anticipated all the adventures life had in store for me or the remarkable people I would meet that would guide me on my remarkable journey.” Heidi Peters.
The Cyberspace, Hello World Period. In 2018, thanks to the encouragement of friend and mentor, Dr. Erna Schilder, retired Nursing Professor, Heidi presented “The Diagnosis and Prevention of Injury-Contributing Habits for Pianists” at the Third USF-PAMA (University of Southern Florida-Performing Arts Medicine Association) Southeast Regional Conference: Lifecycle of the Performing Artist. The presentation responded to an international medical query: what are pianists NOT taught. In California, a month later, Heidi joined top medical professionals in an intense PAMA training course conducted by top-ranked global medical experts. As a result, Heidi was ostensibly one of the first eleven artist-teachers globally to have completed the course offered by the Performing Arts Medicine Association and the American College of Sports Medicine experts as a Performing Arts Health Education Consultant: Instrumental Specialist.
In 2018 and 2019, Heidi presented at TEMPO Conferences hosted by the Manitoba Music Educators’ Association and the Manitoba Band Association on topics dealing with systemic exploitation of musicians, music teacher burn-out and morale-building hoping to validate, inspire and value the roles of school music teachers.
In January 2020, upon the recommendation of Dr. Dorian Leljak, President of the World Piano Conference (WPC) and the World Piano Teachers’ Association (WPTA), Heidi received her first invitation to present on a topic(s) of her choosing at the World Piano Conference (WPC) in Europe. Although the invitations have continued, Heidi has not participated to date. However, thanks to a network of incredible minds, Heidi has received more diverse opportunities in the interim. To all, “the two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” Leo Tolstoy.
Weeks later, Heidi’s suspicions were validated. She fought for her life as a new Type 1 Diabetic as she heard another patient die of a horrific respiratory illness in the intensive care unit. A week later, hearing new patients enter acute care with respiratory diseases, Heidi convinced healthcare that she could go home and teach them how to teach her by phone and online. By March 15, 2020, diabetes care team members were redeployed to treat Covid patients due to a global pandemic.
Upon diagnosis, a few physicians and a chronic-care team nurse (CDE) diabetes educator urged Heidi to study all the material used to train medical professionals to become diabetes educators. Could she identify why there was a less than desirable patient outcome?
Less than two months after being diagnosed as Type 1 Diabetic, Heidi sustained a medial collateral ligament (MCL) Grade 2 tear while hiking in rugged terrain.
So, in addition, to quickly shifting to running an exclusively virtual music studio permanently, Heidi studied and trained a lot more to become better informed and the strongest and healthiest in her lifetime. In September 2021, Diabetes Canada acknowledged Heidi for her studies. Although protocol dictates that only those deemed healthcare professionals can be designated as certified diabetes educators (CDE), Heidi is the experienced diabetic pedagogue with new insight to address the initial query posed by the medical professionals. What Heidi has learned thus far about trauma and stress, the influence of the endocrine system on behaviour, mood, attention, energy, sleep, learning, vision, nutrition and digestion, exercise, neuropathies, pain and injury opened a whole new chapter of hope.