Prince George's launches outreach campaign to boost health service awareness

Prince George’s County launched its Explore, Learn, Thrive campaign on April 17, using pop-up events in Laurel, Landover and Oxon Hill to push residents toward health services many may not know exist. The effort is aimed at making it easier to find help with disease prevention, vaccines, sexual health services, vital records and food-safety reporting.

County leaders cast the campaign as more than a branding exercise. The Health Department says its mission is to protect the public’s health, assure access to quality health care services and promote prevention of disease, injury and disability, and the new outreach push is designed to increase community awareness and strengthen trust through visibility, education and outreach.

That matters in a county of nearly one million diverse residents, where access often depends on whether people can navigate a large public system. Prince George’s updated its community health assessment in 2022 after earlier versions in 2016 and 2019, and the county’s 2025 assessment identified chronic disease, maternal and infant health, behavioral health, access to care and social determinants of health as priority areas.

The campaign is also a reminder of how broad the department’s footprint already is. Prince George’s says health services operate at 14 locations across the county, while the department’s proposed FY 2026 budget is $106,674,300, a 15.9% increase over FY 2025. County officials are also planning a regional health and human services center that would co-locate administrative offices with other county service agencies.

Dr. Toyin Opesanmi, the county’s health officer, is the public face of the campaign. County materials describe him as a family medicine physician with expertise in HIV and addiction medicine, a background that fits a department juggling preventive care, clinical services and public-health enforcement.

The outreach drive also comes as the department pursues a Public Health Accreditation Board accreditation process and develops a strategic plan, part of a larger effort to modernize how services are delivered and measured. By tying pop-up events to neighborhood locations rather than relying only on county offices, Prince George’s is signaling that awareness itself is a barrier to care.

For families trying to find a vaccination, replace a record or get linked to preventive services, the county is betting that visibility can change daily life as much as a new program can.