diff --git a/scripts/extraction/merge_to_MEDS_cohort.py b/scripts/extraction/merge_to_MEDS_cohort.py
index 0c941ee..be922e2 100755
--- a/scripts/extraction/merge_to_MEDS_cohort.py
+++ b/scripts/extraction/merge_to_MEDS_cohort.py
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 from MEDS_polars_functions.mapper import wrap as rwlock_wrap
 from MEDS_polars_functions.utils import hydra_loguru_init
 
+pl.enable_string_cache()
+
 
 def read_fn(sp_dir: Path) -> pl.LazyFrame:
     dfs = []