Meet Dr. Marci Slayton! Our Chief Medical Officer
Camp Boggy Creek is so excited to welcome Dr. Marci Slayton as our new Chief Medical Officer! Dr. Slayton was a general pediatrics doctor for 17 years as well as a pediatric urgent care doctor for an additional 12 years. She has also been coming to Camp as a volunteer since 2002! We asked her a few questions recently to get to know her a bit better.
Dr. Slayton, can you tell us about why you decided to take on this role at Camp and a bit of your Camp history?
Dr. Slayton: For the past five years or so, I have been telling my family that to be the Medical Director of Camp Boggy Creek would be my “dream job.” I typically came to volunteer for cancer week or cancer family weekend, as my husband is a pediatric oncologist. But I’ve also been a volunteer doctor for blended week, kidney week/spina bifida week, and bleeding disorders week. But Bill and I have been consistent summer camp volunteers for Cancer week since 2002. We moved back to Florida in 2002 and that’s why we started volunteering that year. When we lived in Utah, we volunteered with an oncology camp based in Salt Lake City UT. Even before that, I volunteered with Florida Camp for Children and Youth with Diabetes (FCCYD) in the mid-1990s.
How has your family been a part of your Camp experiences?
Dr. Slayton: Volunteering at Camp has become a family affair. Bill and I have three children and they are all adults now (the youngest is 21). For many summer sessions, they were fortunate enough to be enrolled into Camp as campers. Two of my three kids have returned to camp as long term summer volunteers.
When a child leaves Camp how do you want them to feel?
Dr. Slayton: When a child leaves camp, I want them to feel that they had an experience where they felt respected and loved and that their disease was not a big deal. I want them to feel like any other kid who has just attended a week of summer camp. I want them to feel like it’s one of the best weeks of their summer.
What should people know about you and your approach to your role?
Dr. Slayton: I know that I want to serve kids who really cannot attend a regular summer camp due to their mobility issues or their disease process. Kids with chronic illness have faced some real unfairness in their short lives. I want Camp Boggy Creek to try to balance that out a little bit by providing an experience that is overwhelmingly positive.
What do you do in your free time?
Dr. Slayton: I like to garden in my spare time, go bird watching with my husband, play with my dog, or read a good book if I have a nice long chunk of time to spare. Once I start a good book, I’m generally unable to put it down. That’s why I need a long chunk of time because I know that I’ll read a book from beginning to end as soon as I start it.
What’s one thing people don’t know about you?
Dr. Slayton: I’m a closet weather junkie. I obsessively check the NOAA.gov whenever we have inclement weather coming our way. I also LOVE to travel. Bill and I have traveled to multiple destinations in Europe, Central/South America, plus China, Japan, and Russia. We actually had a trip scheduled to Italy in October of this year but had to delay the trip once I was hired as medical director. We are hoping to take the Italy trip in early January 2025. When we travel, I always make an effort for Bill and I to take some sort of food-preparing class. For example, we attended a paella class in Madrid and a pastry class in Paris.
Welcome Dr. Slayton, we’re so glad you’re here!