Tuesday was World Hepatitis Day, an effort by the medical community to raise awareness about a disease that's often called a silent killer. NY1's Erin Clarke takes a look at one program helping New Yorkers learn more about hepatitis and get treatment.

Paul Bolter, the community outreach and education director at the American Liver Foundation, New York Area Division was first diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2001 after going to the doctor because he felt sluggish.

"I was feeling like I needed more naps, more coffee. I just started to acknowledge that I wasn't running at full speed," Bolter recalled.

He had been living with the illness that affects the liver for about two decades - but he didn't know it.

That's the case for many.

Hepatitis, often referred to as a silent killer, can go undetected for as many as 30 years.

"Unfortunately you don't necessarily have signs and symptoms of that disease until that inflammation turns to scaring and that scaring is called cirrhosis. And unfortunately once you have cirrhosis, sometimes your liver stops working well and at that point you're art risk for liver failure, liver cancer," said Dr. Brianna Norton, Hepatitis C Director at Montefiore Comprehensive Health Care Center.

It's an epidemic doctors say.

"I'm treating hep C patients once a week, but actually I have a line out the door and a waiting list in order to actually treat and sustain that need," Dr. Norton noted.

A quarter million New Yorkers have the disease, which is most commonly transmitted by sharing a tainted needle, through blood transfusions or sexual contact.

In the Bronx, where some of those risk factors are highest, Dr. Norton works at one of 10 Montefiore Hospital clinics that take part in a program targeting at-risk Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Project INSPIRE encourages them to get screened, evaluated and treated.

"We have someone that is with that patient step by step and is actually really following up with that patient," said Sheila Reynoso, a project coordinator with Project Inspire.

Peer educators who were cured of the disease, like Bolter, are also an integral part of the program, sharing their experiences to help patients navigate through the process.

"If I could beat this disease anybody can beat it," said 

Montefiore is one of six health care organizations in the Bronx and Manhattan that takes part in the Project INSPIRE program.

For more information about Project INSPIRE, hepatitis and how to get free testing, visit hepfree.nyc.