Layoffs: Round 1

Well, I survived a round of unspectacular layoffs where I work. They decided that they couldn't keep producing at current levels due to lower demand and the weekend shift was cut. Unofficial accounts say that all but one person was given a choice to transfer to another shift. I am now on days, which is much more serious, or so I'm told. I also work with Gord, and I'm told that is quite serious as well.
Not sure if I should start looking for a new job. Apparently, a lot of people are. Others seem to feel that things will probably pick up again. I have no idea where things are right now. A 1/3rd production cut is pretty big and that might make things ok. A lot of people also decided to say, "Screw this," and left voluntarily. At the moment, there's too little data to tell.
Before this happened, I was wondering how I should position my portfolio. I had decided on going for long term growth over more immediate needs. Not sure if this still makes sense. Somehow, I don't think that there'll be any more major changes for another six months or so. There's a seasonal demand factor.
At this time, there isn't enough information to form a decision at the moment. I can wait and see what happens though it seems that now is the time to act if I want to do anything academic. Granted, I'm not really postured to be a really strong candidate for some of the positions I see there. That and they're also a bit of a pay cut.
I'm still not sure what I want to go into. Finance and health are two things I think I might want to go into . For finance, it would have to be credit counciling or bankruptcies. Essentially, helping people where it's needed. For health, I'd lean either towards optometry or becoming a doctor specializing in addiction treatment, or maybe just a small town GP. I'd like to feel some sense of accomplishment every now and then. Right now, my job just drives me nuts.
Whatever I do, I seem to need much more money to enable it. Gonna relax a while. Then get back to work since this is transition week.