Within the past decade the role of the primary care physician caring for older patients has expanded to include counseling and "healthy aging" education to reduce multiple behavior risk factors. Project AGE WELL was a longitudinal study of the impact of a comprehensive and team delivered health promotion program on the health status of the elderly. Four hundred elderly adults have participated in this program through primary health care or wellness clinics. The AGE WELL staff implemented "Health Peers" in 1988. Through this program a group of Health Peers counselors (elderly volunteers) were trained through initial 2-day workshops with monthly update sessions. Preliminary results indicated that Health Peer counselors improved self-esteem and self-efficiency and were successful in content acquisition. The counselors reached a significant number of elderly peers individually and in groups to distribute important health information to change behavioral lifestyles to reduce risks. Through the Health Watch Of Arizona study in the Sun Cities, AGE WELL staff will train Health Peer counselors to serve as elderly educators within participating primary care physician offices. Health Peers will extend the role of primary care physicians in health promotion and may potentially have impact on "reaching the unreachable" for those persons who do not seek regular care. (ABL)