The Volunteer Sisterhood
Rout established the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood in July 1915. The first volunteer group travelled to Egypt later that year, working in welfare services and hospitals. Rout reached Egypt in February 1916.
Concerned about provisions for soldiers, she organised the Tel El Kebir Soldiers’ Club and later a canteen at El Qantara. She believed that food, rest, social contact and access to trustworthy health information were essential to wartime care.
London and Paris
In 1917 Rout pressed military medical officers to provide preventive supplies. She travelled to Paris in April 1918 and met soldiers arriving on leave, distributing information and kits while advocating for medical supervision of premises used by servicemen.
After the Armistice she helped with relief at Villers-Bretonneux and received a French decoration recognising her service.
Soldiers remembered her
Her relationships with ordinary soldiers helped sustain a mission that was often unwelcome to officials. The Australian War Memorial has preserved her wartime letters and correspondence as well as photographs and material connected with her preventive work.