Unplanned hospital stays in middle age

I recently had a scheduled root canal turn into a three-day hospital stay with surgery. I'm typically the family member driving my older parent to their medical visits and didn't have a plan in place for the reversal. Additionally, I'm single and realized that this is likely the future of my medical life. Are any of you in a similar position? Do you have plans with friends to be a point of contact or medical POA?