In my very small community, what has been done includes
1. Low cost senior housing
2. regular bus access to the nearest city specifically for medical care
3. senior center with activities and meals 5 days a week, including volunteer delivery
4. excellent county run ambulance service. Couples who want to buy in pay $40/yr for ground ambulance service.
5. air ambulance service. That is also $40/yr.
6. local clinic
7. senior center keeps listings of other services available and has an excellent volunteer who gives info on medicare, social security, etc.
8. one of the services of our senior center is free weekly quilt classes open to anyone. My guild provides the instruction.
9. volunteer drivers to take seniors to appts out of the county in their own vehicles.
By ground, we are 2 hours from city hospitals. The county has a much smaller one an hour from us. Many people have left the county for this reason.
When I became more disabled and needed help with housework, I had good people recommended to me immediately. My cleaner is now a delightful friend. She is also a quilter, so she knows what not to mess with. One great thing about a small town is that a person's reputation is easy to determine. In our little town, there are always people ready to help when they are needed. One group, for example provides firewood for people in need of it. Lions, Rotary, etc. all provide information on access to services.
Recently, DH and I were struggling to load things in our car in the city nearest us. that would not happen in our town. People help here. Oddly enough, we have 7 places where one can buy take out food. When we moved here, there were 2.