Members of the SOU campus community are invited to participate in a training session on Wednesday that may prepare them to save the life of a friend, colleague or student experiencing an opioid overdose.

Students from the Oregon Health & Science University nursing program at SOU are offering a Naloxone Project training session from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday in the Stevenson Union’s Rogue River Room. Participants will learn how to use naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses, and will receive free naloxone kits.

Anyone may attend, and admission is free.

“I sincerely wish that we had no need for this training at SOU – that the national opioid crisis could not reach our campus,” SOU President Linda Schott said Tuesday in a message to campus. “Tragically, that is not the case. We have lost students to overdoses, and there are others on our campus who are at risk.

“I encourage you to attend the naloxone training session,” she said. “You can be ready to save a life, if ever confronted with an overdose.”

Naloxone effectively treats overdoses by reversing opioid-caused depression to the central nervous system and respiratory system. It is safe, non-addictive and does not require a prescription.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimated that more than 26,000 opioid overdoses were reversed through the use of naloxone kits from 1996 to 2014.

President Schott pointed out that much work must be done nationally to address the opioid epidemic, but said those at the local level can do their part “by preparing … to help those who would otherwise become its victims.”

Wednesday’s training session is supported by the HIV Alliance and Max’s Mission, a local nonprofit that offers free naloxone and raises awareness of the danger of drug overdoses. It was created by the parents of Max Pinsky, a 25-year-old Ashland man who was lost to an overdose five years ago.

Those who have specific questions about opioid use and treatment options for those with addictions may contact the Student Health and Wellness Center for more information.