Maurice Dotson updated his Facebook profile picture March 19 with what would become a haunting message: "I can’t stay home...I’m a health care worker."

For 25 years, he worked at West Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in South Austin as a certified nursing assistant. He never let residents’ birthdays or other milestones go uncelebrated and especially doted on those whose families lived away or seldom visited.

"He was the type – he didn’t just leave at the end of his shift," said Mona Surber, who became friends with Dotson on the job eight years ago. "He went and told every single resident on that hall, ‘I’m leaving, goodnight. Do you need anything before I leave?’ And that was every single night. Every single night."

As COVID-19 began spreading across Austin last month, and as patients in the facility where he worked became victims, Dotson weighed risks to his health and not going to work. He and Surber talked or texted almost daily, and he insisted his priority was his patients.

"He would tell me, ‘I know it is out there, but I have to work and I’m not going to leave my residents,’" she said.

Nurse Bryan Zekan, one of Dotson’s friends and a former West Oaks co-worker, said, "I think for him, that would have been like abandoning his family."

As he pressed forward, Dotson told a couple of friends that he had begun to not feel well. On the morning of April 9, Dotson, described by loved ones as a healthy 51-year-old with no underlying conditions, again posted on Facebook. He reported that he felt so sick that he had called an ambulance to take him to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center.

Then early Friday, he became what is believed to be the first health care worker in Austin to die from the virus.

CORONAVIRUS IN TEXAS: What we know, latest updates

Austin health officials said that, as in many cities nationally, nursing homes, assisted living centers and other long-term care facilities have especially suffered in the coronavirus crisis. Eight operations are linked to clusters of the virus, where multiple patients have been diagnosed.

At last count Tuesday, 96 nursing home residents had been infected with COVID-19, and 67 staff members had been diagnosed with the virus, officials said. Of the city’s 25 deaths, 15 have been linked to such facilities.

In a statement, West Oaks officials said they are deeply saddened by "the loss of our team member and send our thoughts and prayers to his friends and family. Our dedicated staff put our patients before themselves every day."

Owned by Regency Integrated Health Services of Victoria, West Oaks has had two confirmed cases of COVID-19. Company officials did not respond to requests this week about how many residents currently have the virus.

Those who knew Dotson said he never sought employment elsewhere because he considered West Oaks a second home and the patients and staff a second family.

His sister, Felicia Dotson, said he helped raise her and a younger sister. The family moved from Arkansas to Denton in North Texas in the late 1980s. She said her brother had a friend in Austin and decided to move to the larger city in the early 1990s.

Zekan said providing such intimate care never dampened Dotson’s enthusiasm, nor did seeing many of the patients with whom he developed close relationships pass away.

"He was a very proud nurses’ assistant, which is to be complimented," he said. "The majority of all patient care happens at that level. So for somebody to keep a positive upbeat attitude after doing it for decades, is amazing. That speaks a lot to his character."

Dotson also helped spread his positive outlook outside work, including with social media messages he often concluded asking, "Can I get an amen?"

Capital Metro bus driver Darrell Sorrells met Dotson, a frequent passenger, several years ago and often drove him to and from work. Dotson shared his excitement about watching some of his favorite TV shows and his love of cooking, Sorrells said.

"He would cook some gourmet stuff and post it on Facebook, especially his breakfast," Sorrells said. "His breakfast was better than a cafe. I would tell him, you can outdo any restaurant here in Austin."

After learning her brother was ill, Felicia Dotson said she kept in touch with doctors and nurses as his condition worsened. She was discouraged from coming to Austin to be with him because of the chance of getting sick herself.

She updated his friends on Facebook.

"He is fighting and we need true prayers for him right now," she wrote April 11. "COVID-19 has hit home."

Over the next couple of days, she said Dotson seemed to improve, then took a turn.

At 1:39 a.m. Friday, she posted: "Maurice Dotson passed away about an hour ago. God help us! COVID-19 is real. Please protect yourself!"

In their small hometown in Arkansas, she said she is now making plans for his funeral and taking comfort that he died from caring for others.

"How I have made peace with it is that he died doing what he loved, and that’s helping other people," she said.

Zekan, who had been in near-constant touch with Dotson’s other close friends, said he got a call in the middle of the night that he had died. As he drove to work at a dialysis clinic before dawn that morning, Zekan said he wiped away tears thinking about his friend’s sacrifice.

"People try to add meaning to a passing, but he went in knowing there was a good chance he would get it," he said. "In a lot of ways, for me, he was a hero."