Cash Flow Vs Cash Growth

I'm looking at balance sheets & income statements and trying to deviate between some factors.

First off, how is cash growth (income statement) calculated? Is it using cash flow, free cash flow, cash & equivalents? etc.

Secondly, what's better for determining the health of a company? Free cash flow or cash growth?

I can't really seem to find anything more detailed on cash growth. I've looked at Investopedia, my broker's site (Fidelity), and googling some phrases, like “formula for cash growth on income statement”

Thank you for any explanations!