Just In Case

Does your first-aid kit have all the essentials?

- Anna-Kaisa Walker

THE LAST TIME I cracked open my home's first-aid kit, I had one thumb swaddled in bloody paper towels after I'd accidentally nicked it while chopping onions. Fumbling through the zippered compartments as my thumb throbbed, I discovered nothing but a few yellowed bandages, dried-out antiseptic wipes, some gauze, tape and a pair of scissors like the kind kids use in kindergarten.

Luckily I managed to stem the bleeding with the gauze and went on to cook a decent spaghetti Bolognese. But I'd come to the sober realization that my cheap, neglected first-aid kit would do my family no good in an honest-to goodness emergency. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of Americans don't own a first-aid kit.

"First-aid kits are most commonly used for minor injuries like cuts, but they can also help you in less-common emergency situations, such as heart attacks or life-threatening bleeding," says Nathan Charlton, an emergency physician in Charlottesville, Virginia, who serves on the Scientific Advisory Council for the American Red Cross. That's why our list is so comprehensive. Build yourself a good kit, then keep one at home and one in the car, and be sure to take one along if you go camping.

To help you make sure your kits contain all the right things, we spoke to experts in emergency medicine. These are the items they recommend:

ASPIRIN TWO 81-milligram tablets of chewable aspirin can be lifesaving if taken within the first hour of a suspected heart attack. But call 911 first and await instructions; it's not safe for everyone (for example, those on other blood thinners).

DISPOSABLE NON-LATEX GLOVES When helping another person, put these on first.

HAND SANITIZER If you can't wash your hands, use this before treating any wounds. Wash or sanitize hands before putting on gloves.