What do older people moving to nursing homes need to feel healthy and happy? Traditionally, the focus has been on the built environment, the life situation, and the delivery of person-oriented care. Surprisingly though, there is little attention to the individual language use and choice of nursing home residents. The results of Jolien Makkinga’s (AMC) research project “Language practices in a nursing home” demonstrate that language practices and the use of dialect towards dialect speakers can contribute positively to their experience of belonging and well-being within the nursing home.
To create more awareness of the importance of language use and choice in nursing homes Jolien and Stichting Laudio developed “Mia: a sound box on language and home in nursing homes” (www.stichtinglaudio.nl/mia). The box has been placed in nursing homes and the “Limburgs Museum” and targets a broad range of people, including nursing home residents, policy makers and health care professionals as well as family and lay people. The conversations Makkinga had with residents during her ethnographic fieldwork, enabled her to develop fictive resident Mia. In the nursing homes and museums, a room is decorated with old-fashioned cabinets and accessories. Visitors can hear Mia’s stories about her life in a nursing home and the importance of language by opening a door or drawer of the cabinet. Every cabinet contains a different story linked to Jolien’s research. Visitors are invited to further engage with the research through an additional podcast.

Mia premiered on October 1st 2018 at the Lenculenhof, Envida in Maastricht and was also placed at La Valance, Envida in Maastricht. Currently Mia can be visited at the “Limburgs Museum” in Venlo. Since the premiere there has been considerable interest in the project and there have been multiple requests to host Mia at new locations.  Plans are currently under way for new locations for Mia after her stay at the Limburgs Museum.