HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WHLT) – Leaders with the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) announced permanent emergency kits containing Narcan medication will be in residence halls on the Hattiesburg campus.

Narcan, also known by its clinical name Naloxone, is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.

USM is the first State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) university to make the Overdose Emergency Kits stocked with Narcan, instructions for use and CPR mask available in campus housing.

Officials said the Moffitt Health Center initiative was made possible by a $43,000 grant from the Jimmy A. Payne Foundation, through the USM Foundation. With the grant funding, USM purchased 50 Overdose Emergency Kits to be mounted in residence halls and public common areas on campus.

The grant also provided funding for the purchase of 300 doses of Narcan – 50 of which will be available in the emergency kits, with the remaining 250 to be reserved for students who have undergone Narcan training. An additional 316 doses have been provided to the University through the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) Pharmacy for faculty and staff.