Area police officers now have a new way to help when first on the scene.

In a press event Sept. 10 Michael Wargo of Lehigh Valley Health Network announced specialized emergency individual first aid kits will be given to every officer in police departments of the cities of Allentown and Bethlehem, and Salisbury and South Whitehall townships as part of National Preparedness Month.

The kits, modeled on equipment used in the armed forces, will attach to officers uniforms. Approximately the size of a shaving kit or average size makeup bag, the kit will include chest seals to treat penetrating chest wounds, an Isareli pressure trauma bandage, hemostatic dressings and a tourniquet.

"Definitely life saving tools," Sgt. Bob Urban of the city of Bethlehem Police Department said at the press event.

The kits will allow police officers, often first on the scene of a traumatic event, to begin treatment of an injured person or another officer who may be hurt. The police officer also may self administer with his or her kit if injured.

"Quite simply they save lives," Jeff Kuklinski, medical director for City of Allentown EMS, said of the kits. A military veteran, Kuklinski noted the kits are designed to address hemorrhagic injuries, injuries most frequently seen on the battlefield.

"It will allow us to save a life," Salisbury Township Police Chief Allen W. Stiles said of the kits following the press event. "We will be able to do a lot more."

Each kit also will include an officer's name, department, badge number and blood type.

Approximately 600 kits will be distributed to officers in four departments.

Lehigh Valley Health Network also presented a ballistic blanket to police.

The blanket will take at least three officers to manuever and can be used as a shield in active shooter scenes or to provide cover to those wounded in such attacks, Stiles explained.

The Salisbury Township Police Department will have possession of the blanket.