One of the hospitals in Portland, Oregon has a program called Passage Quilts that donates a quilt to every terminal patient. After the patient passes, the quilt is given to the family. I've read some incredible thank-you notes family members have written, telling how much comfort those quilts have brought their family member and, eventually, them. One man really missed his cat and was given a quilt with cats appliqued on it. It gave him a lot of comfort, he loved it. A woman lost her brother to cancer, he had had the quilt for a few months. Someone popped it in the dryer to warm it up, then wrapped it around the grieving sister and told her it was a hug from him. A 9 year old boy was taken to the quilt room to pick out a quilt for his mom, who had cancer. He loved apples, so he picked out a quilt that had apples on it. That story made me bawl my eyes out.
These quilts are most definitely used and appreciated. That hospital goes through an average of 40 quilts a month.