It has been five days since an earthquake rocked Haiti, leaving Jeff Randle's medical clinic in shambles.

But of all the days spent worrying and waiting, Saturday may have been the longest, and toughest.

The Salt Lake City rehabilitation specialist awoke to learn that a dear friend had died because of a treatable leg injury sustained in the quake. He doesn't have details, but suspects Annia St. Louis, a young mother and doctor, would have survived had she received medical care.

The news left an already determined Randle more eager to travel to Haiti, so that he might prevent more deaths. Then, later Saturday, he got "the call," confirming his spot on a plane bound Sunday evening for the impoverished island country as part of a humanitarian mission sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The team -- a surgeon and emergency room doctors and nurses -- will be supplied with food, water filters, tents and medical equipment. They are scheduled to land about 3:30 a.m. Monday in Haiti.

It's possible the team will stay in a guesthouse on a 6-acre compound owned by Randle's nonprofit, Healing Hands for Haiti. The 12-year-old charity provides braces, wheelchairs and rehabilitation therapy for Haitians with disabilities.

The guesthouse and clinic were damaged and may be uninhabitable, but the compound is secure and outfitted with a large water-filtration system and generator.

Still, the group may have only a week, and overland travel may prove impractical. Randle's purpose will be aiding the impoverished island country's injured and suffering.

"Any time you go to Haiti, plans are fluid. You have to adapt and think on your feet," said the 47-year-old father of four while at dinner with his family Saturday evening. "I look forward to that challenge actually."

As long as supplies of food and water continue to make their way inland, Randle doesn't fear for his safety. "They've always been so welcoming to foreign aid teams," he said.

Randle's experience will help determine how long it may be before other Healing Hands medical teams can be safely deployed.

"There's gasoline rationing and some food distribution, fewer people in the streets, but a lot of uncollected bodies. And there are reports of unrest and gunshots at night," said Eric Doubt, the nonprofit's executive director based in Canada.

Healing Hands co-founder Lisa Bagley, a nurse administrator at Intermountain Medical Center, hopes to lead a mission within weeks, or months.

"There will be no shortage of work for us," Bagley said. "I just hope that when all the dust settles, the rest of the world doesn't forget Haiti."

Charlotte Pratt won't. She and her husband and their five children have all volunteered for Healing Hands.

Family friends of Randle, the Pratts grew close to many of the charity's 45 Haitian staff members, including Jony St. Louis who started as a translator and now manages the rehabilitation clinic. When St. Louis announced he was engaged to be married to Annia, the Pratts flew the couple to Utah to be married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They stayed with the Pratts for two weeks in May 2005.

"I gave Jony my gold wedding band to give to Annia, and she wore my daughter's wedding gown," recalls Charlotte Pratt. "When we sent them home on a plane, my heart broke to see them returning to a land of such poverty. But they were both very optimistic about prospects for their homeland."

Annia leaves behind two boys, one 4 and the other 7 months old.

And though Healing Hands has committed to pay Jony's salary even with the clinic closed, Pratt can't help but wonder, "What kind of future does he have with those two boys?"

Said Pratt, "We are as broken-hearted as anyone can be on this earth to understand why this is such a God-forsaken country. They don't deserve this."

kstewart@sltrib.com