FHSU’s Kendal Carswell is an advocate and champion for refugees in southwest Kansas.
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hump. Thump. Thump. The sound of a fist pounding on the door echoed through the
house. Thump! Thump! The sound intensified as a muffled voice called for help. Kendal Carswell pulled open the door and a sharp blast of frigid wind, snow and ice blew into the house. A slender young man wearing his stocking cap pulled low and a tattered coat – a size too small – blew in through the door, too. “Help! My sister needs your help,” he uttered in a heavy accent. “She’s in the car.” Months earlier, Carswell had gone to the woman’s tiny apartment to help connect her with social resources after her husband unexpectedly died, leaving behind a toddler and another child on the way. Her brother and friends now gathered to help interpret because she spoke little English, and Carswell worked to connect her with
social security benefits, income-based housing, and other social resources. Her brother ventured out in the wicked Kansas blizzard because the young woman had gone into labor during what she thought was weeks before her due date. Scared and not knowing where to turn, they called on a valued advocate in the community – Carswell, an FHSU assistant professor of social work and then the Kearny County Hospital’s Pioneer Care Advocacy Team Coordinator. With his support, they could make the right connections to see a new child welcomed into the world safely and connect them with the resources they needed to start anew. “They see me as an ally and a friend,” Carswell said. The young woman was a Somali refugee living in Garden City. Carswell’s relationship with her and her family – and the entire community – would help fuel the region’s expansion of social services for underROAR
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served populations. “There is a staggering need for social workers in Kansas, as less than five percent of the state’s licensed master’s social workers, specialist clinical social workers and psychologists work in western Kansas,” Carswell said. “If we can educate people at home, there is a higher likelihood they will stay at home to practice and fill the service gaps that exist in rural areas.” Fort Hays State is one of only a handful of universities in the United States – and the only one in Kansas – to offer the Bachelor of Social Work and Masters of Social Work online. Carswell is the field practicum director, helping connect aspiring social workers to secure practicum opportunities in the community of their choosing and working with the populations they have a passion for working with. The practicum provides an essential learning experience where students get the training to apply
