1994 Dodge Caravan Can you drive the car if the DRIVE BELT

Air Conditioning problem
1994 Dodge Caravan Automatic 177000 miles

Can you drive the car if the DRIVE BELT came off of the compressor?
About 6 weeks ago I had to have a new head gasket. It appears that the mechanices did not properly tighten the compressor etc when they replaced it after putting in the head gasket. Yesterday I heard a strange whistling type of noise that only sounded when pushing the gas peddle, and stopped when I let off the gas peddle. Today I pulled into a mechanic friends station and he stated that the compressor was a lot more loose than it should be and I needed to take it back to the mechanincs that did the head gasket. After I left, 10 miles down the road I parked at a store, and when I came out and began to go in the van, the power steering wasnt working, then all of the sudden the temp gauge went to hot, so I pulled over immediately. After opening the hood I discovered a belt just kind of laying in there. Off of the pulleys. The compressor appears to be more loose than before. I'm an hour away from home. Can the car run without this belt and with the compressor being loose? And why did it register hot all of the sudden. 10 minutes later the temp gauge was normal by the way. Thanks!