Featured Post from Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern to provide overdose prevention education, life-saving medication to campus community

Jun 1, 2025

3 min


CaptionResizeWrap TextRemove


Georgia Southern University’s Office of Student Wellness and Health Promotion, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH) Center for Addiction Recovery and Health Services have partnered to provide overdose prevention education to the campus community.


The University will distribute naloxone, which is used to rapidly and temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, allowing time for first responders to arrive and initiate further intervention, to the campus community at no cost. Savannah nonprofit No More O.D.s donated a large quantity of naloxone to Georgia Southern for this purpose.


“The health and safety of our campus and the many visitors it welcomes are of high priority,” said Shay Little, Ph.D., vice president for Student Affairs. “By increasing access to naloxone we are equipping our community with another life-saving tool.”



Georgia Southern Public Health Administrator Sean Bear, DPH, agrees.


“Naloxone is a life-saving medication,” he noted. “It is safe, fast-acting and easy to use.”


Although many in the Georgia Southern community do not consume alcohol or other recreational substances, opioid overdoses can occur under a number of circumstances. Misuse of prescription opioids provided by a health care provider or the use of illegal opioids can result in negative health consequences, including overdoses. Some common prescription opioids include codeine, morphine, hydrocodone and oxycodone, among others. Counterfeit pills designed to look like prescription opioids often contain a synthetic opioid known as fentanyl, with many of these pills containing enough fentanyl in just one dose to cause an opioid overdose.


“The primary aim of distributing naloxone and providing education on overdose prevention, recognition and response is to save lives,” said Robert Bohler, Ph.D., JPHCOPH assistant professor.


Just as AED/CPR first aid boxes are placed strategically across campus, naloxone kits and utilization instructions will be placed in high-traffic, high-risk areas. Distribution locations include the Campus Food Pantries (all campuses), Center for Addiction and Recovery (Statesboro Campus), Health Centers (Statesboro and Armstrong campuses), Counseling Centers (Statesboro and Armstrong campuses), and Student Wellness and Health Promotion (Statesboro and Armstrong campuses).


“All naloxone packages come with instructions, however, additional educational information, such as a video link on how to administer naloxone, where to find additional information and more will be available at each of these distribution locations,” said Gemma Skuraton, DPH, director of Student Wellness and Health Promotion.


Universities play a vital role in promoting harm-reduction strategies. As such, Georgia Southern is committed to ensuring the availability, accessibility and education surrounding naloxone on each of its campuses. Educational initiatives will focus on overdose prevention, recognizing signs and symptoms of overdose, overdose response planning, naloxone administration, legal protections (Georgia’s 911 Medical Amnesty Law and Georgia Southern’s Amnesty Protocol), bystander intervention, and treatment and recovery service availability on campus and in the community.


You can sign-up for an open workshop to learn more on the Student Wellness and Health Promotion webpage: 



Interested in learning more? If you want to connect with any of the experts from this story  and want to book time to talk or interview, then let us help - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Powered by

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern University expert available to provide geopolitical analysis on the Iran war featured image

1 min

Georgia Southern University expert available to provide geopolitical analysis on the Iran war

The Middle East has entered an active state of war marked by a cycle of retaliatory strikes across Iran and the Persian Gulf. Three major uncertainties now dominate the global outlook: the long-term survival of the Iranian government, the fate of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and the security of critical oil transit routes. Georgia Southern University Professor of Political Science and International Studies Jacek Lubecki, Ph.D., is available to speak about the military operation in Iran and its implications for regional stability and global security. Lubecki is an expert in comparative politics and military security studies, with a focus on the Middle East and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. His research examines terrorism, counterinsurgency and military strategy. His work has been published in journals including Europe-Asia Studies, East European Politics and Societies, The Polish Review, The New Ukraine and The Armchair General. He has co-authored several books, including Globalization, Nationalism, and Imperialism: A New History of Eastern Europe (2023), which examines domestic and global security challenges, and Defending Eastern Europe: The Defense Policies of New NATO and EU Member States (2021). Lubecki speaks Polish, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, German and Arabic with varying levels of fluency. Lubecki is available for interviews in person at Georgia Southern’s Statesboro Campus or virtually.

Georgia Southern University expert available for interviews about Venezuela's political shift after U.S. intervention and the Cuba-Venezuela Connection featured image

1 min

Georgia Southern University expert available for interviews about Venezuela's political shift after U.S. intervention and the Cuba-Venezuela Connection

The January U.S. military action in Venezuela is altering political connections and calculations across the Western Hemisphere, with deep implications for Cuba. The long-standing belief in the United States’ strategic patience regarding adversarial and destabilizing governments has been decisively overturned and threatens the Cuban government’s vulnerability to collapse. Georgia Southern University Associate Professor of International Studies Christopher M. Brown, Ph.D., is a recognized expert in the democratization and democratic theory of Latin American countries and the Caribbean Basin. He offers expert analysis on the shifting political landscape in Venezuela and the long-term resilience of the Havana-Caracas axis. Brown is a National Endowment for Humanities Scholar with the José Martí Institute at the University of Tampa and participated in a Faculty Exchange with the University of Havana. He has authored several books focused on the failed democratic systems in Latin America and most recently published a book titled “Responding to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: Insights for the Caribbean” (with Georgina Chami Ph.D., University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nalanda Roy, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University). His monograph, “Failed Democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Palgrave-Macmillan) was published in August 2023 and he is currently completing, “Democratization of Cuba” (Palgrave-Macmillan), which will be published in June 2026. Brown is available in person at the Statesboro Campus or virtually.  Simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Georgia Southern professor to present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete” featured image

2 min

Georgia Southern professor to present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete”

The Georgia Southern University College of Arts and Humanities will host the next installment of the Moveable Feast lecture series with an in-depth discussion of the evolution of combat training from the tumultuous Middle Ages to the modern-day military. Professor of Spanish Grant Gearhart, Ph.D., will present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete” Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., at Service Brewing in Savannah. Gearhart, who is also the coordinator of experiential learning for the Department of World Languages and Cultures, says the presentation is all about connecting modern military training with the physical contests of centuries past. “I wanted to bring back interest in research on the Middle Ages, considering there is a declining interest in the topic within academia,” Gearhart explained. “To connect the past with present in a way that’s digestible for all audiences is something that I feel passionate about bringing to the public.” His research focuses on the evolution of fighting styles and explores how these styles reflect the ethics and values of the cultures in which they were developed. “Today’s soldiers are more than just military personnel, they are athletes,” said Gearhart. “Being a former college athlete sparked my interest in doing this research on the connections between athletics and warriors. I want to show how our modern ideas of soldiers as tactical athletes have historical grounding in the Middle Ages.” The Moveable Feast series is an immersive learning experience that brings lectures into spaces relevant to their topics. The event is free and open to the public.

View all posts
Powered by